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^.NDINti  Lio.  SEP  15  1928 


The 

PERSONNEL  JOURNAL 


^h 


EDITORIAL   BOARD 
WALTER  V.  BINGHAM,  Editor 

Personnel  Research  Federation,  New  York 

CLARENCE  S.  YOAKUM,  Associate  Editor 

University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor 

MAX  FREYD,  Managing  Editor 
Personnel  Research  Federation,  New  York 


Alfred  D.  Flinn, 

Engineering  Foundation 

Howard  W.  Haggard, 

Yale  University 

Wesley  C.  Mitchell, 

National  Bureau  of  Economic  Research 

Leonard  Outhwaite, 

61  Broadway,  New  York 

Edward  K.  Strong,  Jr., 

Stanford  University 


Louis  L.  Thtjrstone, 

University  of  Chicago 

Mart  Van  Kleeck, 

Russell  Sage  Foundation 

Frankwood  E.  Williams, 

National  Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene 

Joseph  H.  Willits, 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Matthew  Woll, 

American  Federation  of  Labor 


VOLUME  VI 

JUNE,  1927  to  APRIL.  1928 


BALTIMORE 

THE  WILLIAMS  <fe  WILKINS  COMPANY 
1928 


HP 

I/,  6 


Contents 

ARTICLES 

Ability  and  Facial  Measurements Wm.  H.  Sheldon 102 

Accidents,  Men  Who  Have C.    S.    Slocombe    and    W.    V. 

Bingham 251 

Achievement  in  College   and  After  Graduation, 

Predicting John  D.  Beatty  and  Glen  U. 

Cleeton 344 

Additional   Tests   for   Mechanical   Drawing   Ap- 
titude      E.  G.  Stoy 361 

Autumn  Conference   of  the   Personnel  Research 

Federation,  The 379 

Business  Knowledge,  A  Test  to  Gauge E.  D.  Bartlett 199 

Causes  for  Discharge John  M.  Brewer 171 

Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work,  The Richard  H.  Paynter 283 

Dentistry,  Qualifications  for:  A  Preliminary  Study.    Anna  M.  Roe  and  Charles  F. 

Brown 176 

Determination  of  Vocational  Aptitudes:  Does  the 
Tapping  Test  Measure  Aptitude  as  Typist  or 

Pianist? Harry  D.  Kitson 192 

Discharge,  Causes  for John  M.  Brewer 171 

Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women,  The Mary  N.  Winslow 242 

Employees, 

Promotion  for  Factory  Production Franklin  J.  Meine 448 

Transfer  for  Factory  Production Franklin  J.  Meine 367 

End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing,  The Samuel  M.  Levin 161 

Facial  Measurements,  Ability  and Wm.  H.  Sheldon 102 

Ford  Profit  Sharing,  1914-1920. 

Growth  of  the  Plan,  The Samuel  M.  Levin 75 

End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing,  The Samuel  M.  Levin 161 

Freshman,  Testing  and  Training  the  Inferior  or 

Doubtful Edward  S.  Jones 182 

How  Boys  and  Girls  Get  Work Margaret  Barker 119 

How  the  Immigrant  Makes  His  Living Niles  Carpenter 229 

Immigrant,  How  the.  Makes  His  Living Niles  Carpenter 229 

Importance  of  Women  in  Industry Mary  Anderson 329 

Intelligence,  Scholarship  and J.  B.  Miner 113 

Interesting  Department  Executives  in  Organized 

Training James   H.    Greene    and   Anne 

L.  KiNZBR 442 

Introversion  and  Extroversion,  Measuring Theodosia    C.    Hewlett     and 

Olive  P.  Lester 352 

Iron  Men  for  Iron  Ships Commander  D.  E.  Cummings.  . .     87 

Labor  Laws  for  Women,  The  Effect  of Mary  N.  Winslow 242 

Labor  Turnover  Indexes,  A  New  Set  of William  A.  Berridge 1 


iv  Contents 

Leadership, 

Measuring  Morale  and David  R.  Craig 155 

The  May  Conference  on B.  V.  Moore 124 

Learning,  Personality  Factors  in Grace  E.  Bird 56 

Machinist  Apprentice,  The, 

I.  Recruiting,  and  Costs Wm.  H.  Woodruff 173 

n.  The  Training  Program Wm.  H.  Woodruff 258 

May  Conference  on  Leadership,  The B.  V.  Moore 124 

Measure  of  Mechanical  Aptitude,  A Francis  L.  Keane  and  Johnson 

O'Connor 15 

Measuring  Introversion  and  Extroversion Theodosia    C.    Hewlett    and 

Olive  P.  Lester 352 

Measuring  Morale  and  Leadership  Ability David  R.  Craig 155 

Mechanical  Ability  Tests,  The  Minnesota L.  Dewey  Anderson 473 

Mechanical  Aptitude,  A  Measure  of Francis  L.  Keane  and  Johnson 

O'Connor 15 

Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude, 

Tests  for E.G.  Stoy 93 

Additional  Tests  for E.G.  Stoy 361 

Men  Who  Have  Accidents C.  S.  Slocombe  and  W.  V.  Bing- 
ham   251 

Minnesota  Mechanical  Ability  Tests,  The L.  Dewey  Anderson 473 

Morale,  Measuring,  and  Leadership  Ability David  R.  Craig 155 

Morphologic  Types,  Social  Traits  and Wm.  H.  Sheldon 47 

Motorman,  Who  is  a  Good? S.^die     Myers     Shellow     and 

Walter  J.  McCarter 338 

New  Set  of  Labor  Turnover  Indexes,  A W^illiam  A.  Berridge 1 

Occupational  Code,  An:  Its  Construction  and  Use 

with  Tabulating  Equipment F.  E.  Baridon 29 

Occupational  Interests  of  Women Mary  I.  Hogg 331 

Organized  Training,  Interesting  Department  Ex- 
ecutives in James  H.  Greene  and  Anne  L. 

KiNZER 442 

Paris  Congress  of  Technopsychology,  The:  Fourth 
International  Conference  of  Technopsychology 
Applied  to  Vocational  Guidance  and  to  Scien- 
tific Management,  October  10-14,  1927 W.  V.  Bingham 295 

Personality  Factors  in  Learning Grace  E.  Bird 56 

Pianist,  Does  the  Tapping  Test  Measure  Apti- 
tude as Harry  D.  Kitson 192 

Predicting    Achievement    in    College    and    After 

Graduation John  D.  Beatty  and  Glen  U. 

Cleeton 344 

Profit  Sharing, 

Ford,  1914r-1920 Samuel  M.  Levin 75 

The  End  of  Ford Samuel  M.  Levin 161 

Promotion  for  Factory  Production  Employees Franklin  J.  Meine 448 

Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment,  A V.  V.  Anderson 417 

Psychological  Testing  in  a  Women's  College Margaret    R.    Davidson    and 

Andrew  H.  MacPhail 266 

Psychologists,  Vocational  Histories  of Harry  D.  Kitson 276 

Qualifications  for  Dentistry:  A  Preliminary  Study.     Anna  M.  Roe  and  Charles  F. 

Brown 176 


Contents  v 

Reference  Report  Forms,  A  Study  of  Four Arthur  W.  Kornhatjser 38 

Scholarship    and    Intelligence:  Relationships    for 

the    Same    Groups    Throughout    the    College 

Course J.  B.  Miner 113 

Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants,  The Herbert  A.  Toops 457 

Social  Traits  and  Morphologic  Types Wm.  H.  Sheldon 47 

Study  of  Four  Reference  Report  Forms,  A Arthur  W.  Kornhauser 38 

Summer  Work  During  the  College  Course Alice  I.  Perry  Wood 263 

Technopsychology,  The  Paris  Congress  of W.  V.  Bingham 295 

Test  to  Gauge  Business  Knowledge,  A E.  D.  Bartlett 199 

Testing  and  Training  the   Inferior   or  Doubtful 

Freshman Edward  S.  Jones 182 

Testing,  Psychological,  in  a  Women's  College  ....  Margaret    R.    Davidson    and 

Andrew  H.  MacPhail 266 

Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude E.  G.  Stoy 93,   361 

Transfer  for  Factory  Production  Employees Franklin  J.  Meine 367 

Typist,  Does  the  Tapping  Test  Measure  Aptitude 

as Harry  D.  Kitson 192 

Vocation,  Trends  in  Choice  of,  in  Detroit R.  B.  Cunliffe 25 

Vocational  Aptitudes,  Determination  of Harry  D.  Kitson 192 

Vocational  Histories  of  Psychologists Harry  D.  Kitson 276 

Whither   Away   and  Why:  Trends   in    Choice    of 

Vocation  in  Detroit R.  B.  Cunliffe 25 

Who  is  a  Good  Motorman? Sadie     Myers     Shellow     and 

Walter  J.  McCarter 338 

Women, 

Importance  of,  in  Industry Mary  Anderson 329 

Occupational  Interests  of Mary  I.  Hogg 331 

Work,  How  Boys  and  Girls  Get Margaret  Barker 119 

NEWS  NOTES 

Absenteeism  and  physical  condition 403 

Accident  prevention 403 

Achievement  tests 217 

American  Council  on  Education;  Committee  on  Personnel  Methods 151 

American  Federation  of  Labor 402 

American  Management  Association 

Institute  of  Management,  The 150 

Renewal  of  the  publication  of  "Personnel" 150 

Annual  Conference  of  National  Vocational  Guidance  Association 65 

Emotional  hygiene 66 

Training  of  vocational  counselors 66 

Annual  corporate  meeting  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 321 

Athletics,  College,  and  Scholarship 492 

Award  of  the  Jacob  Wertheim  Research  Fellowship;  Harvard  University 151 

Bibliographies 

On  Character 322 

On  Personal  Interview 489 

Brookings  Institution 406 

Character,  A  New  Bibliography  on 322 

College  Athletics  and  Scholarship 492 


vi  Contents 

Conferences 

Annual,  of  Personnel  Research  Federation 321 

Annual,  of  Vocational  Guidance  Association 65 

Eastern  College  Personnel  Officers 147 

February,  in  Boston 406 

Fifth  International,  of  Psychotechnics 491 

Guidance,  at  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 492 

Psychotechnics 492 

West  Point 215 

Columbia  University 

Appointment  of  Roy  N.  Anderson  as  assistant  in  Guidance  and  Personnel  at 

Teachers  College 320 

Course  in  Placement,  at  Teachers  College 64 

Courses  in  industrial  relations,  labor  and  personnel  problems,  vocational  guidance 

and  industrial  education 215 

Personnel  studies  under  the  direction  of  H.  D.  Kitson 64 

Report  of  Secretary  of  Appointments 64 

Committees 

Personnel  Methods,  of  the  American  Council  on  Education 151 

Simplified  Practice  in  Personnel 152 

Cooperative  Experiments  in  Personnel  Methods:  Committee  on  Personnel  Methods 

of  the  American  Council  on  Education 215 

Cornell  University 492 

Dennison  Manufacturing  Company 402 

Earnings,  studies  of 489 

Eastern  College  Personnel  Officers,  Conference  of  the 147 

Economic  bases  of  industrial  stability,  studies  of 488 

Elimination  of  Fatigue  in  Industry;  report  of  summer  school  of  the  I.  R.  1 322 

Elimination  of  waste 145 

Emotional  hygiene 66 

Engineering  education,  improvement  in 67 

Executive  ratings 403 

Executives,  studies  of 487 

Fatigue  in  industry 

The  elimination  of  unnecessary 219 

Report  of  summer  school  of  the  I.  R.  1 322 

February  Conference  in  Boston 406 

Fellowships 

Appointments 322 

Child  development 406 

Jacob  Wertheim  Research,  Harvard  University 151 

Social  Economic  Research 491 

Women,  for;  Smith  College  compilation 490 

Foremen,  studies  of 487,  488 

Forthcoming  meetings 152,  407 

Guidance 

Conference  on,  at  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 491 

Course  in,  at  Columbia  University 321 

Harvard  University,  Bureau  of  Vocational  Guidance 402 

Improvement  in  Engineering  Education 67 

Industrial  conference  at  the  Pennsylvania  State  College 143 

Industrial  education;  course  in,  at  Columbia  University 215 


Contents  vii 

Industrial  relations;  course  in,  at  Columbia  University 215 

Industrial  Relations  Counselors,  Inc 486 

Industrial  stability,  economic  bases  of,  studies  of 488 

Institute  of  Management,  The 150 

Interview,  Personal;  an  annotated  bibliography 489 

I.  R.  I.;  summer  school  of  the 219 

Job  analysis  and  classification 402 

Joseph  A.  Homes  Mine  Safety  Association 67 

Journal  of  General  Psychology,  The 407 

Labor  problems,  course  in  at  Columbia  University 215 

Labor  turnover,  studies  in 487 

Labor  and  the  elimination  of  waste 145 

Waste  elimination  from  the  standpoint  of  the  engineer 146 

Managers,  studies  of 487 

Meeting,  annual  corporate,  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 321 

Mental  problems  of  industrial  unrest 487 

National  Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene 316 

National  Research  Council;  fellowships  in  child  development  announced 406 

National  research  school  endowed;  Brookings  Institution 406 

Pennsylvania  State  College,  industrial  conference  at  the 143 

Pension  plans 490 

Personal  Interview:  an  annotated  bibliography 489 

Personal  items 

Anderson,  Roy  N 320 

Henmon,  Prof.  Vivian  A.  C 220 

Neef,  Prof.  Francis  J 220 

Slocombe,  C.  S 152 

Uhrbrock,  Dr.  R.  S 492 

Willits,  Prof.  J.  H 220 

Personality  measurement 218 

Personnel,  conference  on,  at  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 491 

"Personnel;"  renewal  of  publication  of,  by  the  American  Management  Association  . .  150 
Personnel  methods 

Committee  on 151,  215,  216 

Cooperative  experiments  in 215 

Studies  in 487,  489 

Personnel  policies,  studies  in 487,  489 

Personnel  problems;  course  in,  at  Columbia  University 215 

Personnel  work  at  West  Virginia  University 489 

Personnel  Research  Federation;  activities  of  member  organizations 

A  merican  Federation  of  Labor 402 

Columbia  University 

A  new  course  in  placement  at  Teachers  College 64 

Appointment  of  Roy  N.  Anderson  as  assistant  in  Guidance  and  Personnel. . .  321 
Courses  in  industrial  relations,  labor  and  personnel  problems,  vocational 

guidance  and  industrial  education 215 

Institution  of  course,  Field  Work  in  Guidance  and  Personnel 321 

Report  of  Secretary  of  Appointments 64 

Personnel  studies  under  the  direction  of  H.  D.  Kitson 64 

Dennison  Manufacturing  Company 

Job  analysis  and  classification 402 

Tests 403 


viii  Contents 

Psychology  of  Production  Payment 403 

Accident  Prevention -. 403 

Retainers  on  Piece  Work 403 

Absenteeism  and  Physical  Condition 403 

Executive  Ratings 403 

Harvard  University,  Bureau  of  Vocational  Guidance 402 

Industrial  Relations  Counselors,  Inc 486 

National  Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene 316 

Stanford  University 

Personnel  Work  in  the  Dean  of  Women's  OflBce 403 

Personnel  Research  Activities  in  the  Registrar's  Office 404 

Vocational  Interest  Test,  The 405 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  Wharton  School,  Industrial  Research  Department 

I.  Studies  of  wages,  earnings  and  working  opportunity 487 

II.  Mental  and  physical  problems  of  industrial  unrest 487 

III.  Studies  of  managers,  foremen  and  other  executives 487 

IV.  Studies  in  personnel  policies  and  methods,  and  in  labor  turnover 487 

V.  Studies  of  the  economic  bases  of  industrial  stability 488 

University  of  Pittsburgh,  Research  Bureau  for  Retail  Training 

Projects  in  work 318 

Projects  completed 318 

Vocational  Service  for  Juniors 

Study  of  seven  years  of  junior  employment 486 

Number  of  openings  available  for  Juniors 314 

Number  of  individuals  applying  for  work S16 

Wellesley  College 486 

Yale  University 

Establishment  of  a  Department  of  Personnel  Study 143 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Personnel  Division 319 

Personnel  Research  Federation 

Addition  to  the  staff  of;  C.  S.  Slocombe 152 

Annual  corporate  meeting  of 321 

Committee  on  simplified  practice  in  personnel 152 

Personnel  studies  under  the  direction  of  H.  D.  Kitson 64 

Personnel  study,  department  of,  at  Yale  University 143 

Physical  problems  of  industrial  unrest 487 

Placement,  a  new  course  in,  at  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 64 

Psychology  of  production  payment 403 

Scholarship,  College  Athlelics  and 492 

Paychotechnics;  Fifth  International  Conference  of 492 

Scientific  Management 

In  Europe 219 

Swiss  papers  on 321 

Smith  College 150,  490 

Stanford  University 403 

Summer  School  of  the  I.  R.  1 219 

Swiss  papers  on  scientific  management 321 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  Wharton  School,  Industrial  Research  Department 487 

University  of  Pittsburgh,  Research  Bureau  for  Retail  Training 318 

Vocational  Counselors,  training  of 66 

Vocational  guidance;  course  in,  at  Columbia  University 215 

Vocational  Guidance  Association;  annual  conference  of 65 


Contents  ix 

Vocational  Interest  Test 405 

Vocational  Monographs 218 

Vocational  Service  for  Juniors 314,  486 

Wages,  studies  of 487 

Waste,  elimination  of  unnecessary 145 

Wellesley  College 486 

West  Point  Conference 215 

West  Virginia  University,  personnel  work  at 489 

Working  opportunity,  studies  of 487 

Why  Students  Leave  College;  Columbia  Alumni  News 151 

Yale  University;  establishment  of  a  Department  of  Personnel  Study 143 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Personnel  Division 319 

BOOK  REVIEWS 

Bernays:  An  Outline  of  Careers Samuel  S.  Board 212 

Bingham  and  Freyd:  Procedures  in  Employment 

Psychology Donald  G.  Paterson 132 

Bogart  and  Landon:  Modern  Industry A.  H.  Williams 307 

Brace :  Measuring  Motor  Ability Max  Fretd 208 

Bronner:  A  Manual  of  Individual  Mental  Tests 

and  Testing B.  M.  Castner 306 

Cole:  Factors  of  Human  Psychology 138 

Cox,  Jr. :  The  Economic  Basis  of  Fair  Wages Mary  B.  Gilson 134 

Crawley:  An  Experimental  Investigation  of  Re- 
covery from  Work Walter  N.  Polakov 206 

Douglas:  Wages  and  the  Family Paul  F.  Brissenden 210 

Ellingwood  and  Combes:    The  Government  and 

Labor E.  S.  Wolaver 137 

Foerster  and  Dietel:  Employee  Stock  Ownership 

in  the  LTnited  States John  P.  Mitchell,  Jr 136 

Fuller:  Fourteen  is  Too  Early;  Some  Psychological 

Aspects  of  School  Leaving  and  Child  Labor. . .     Emily  Burr 309 

Galster:  The  Labor  Movement  in  the  Shoe  In- 
dustry with  Special  Reference  to  Philadelphia    W.  H.  Stead 60 

Gloag :  Artif ex,  or  the  Future  of  Craftsmanship 139 

Hamilton  and  Kidner:  Advising  the  Tuberculous 

about  Employment 138 

Hazlitt:  Ability Ben  D.  Wood 60 

Houser :  What  the  Employer  Thinks Merrill  R.  Lott 480 

Hulverson :  Personnel Ordway  Tead 393 

Knights:  The  Technique  of  Salesmanship O.  R.  Johnson 302 

Labor  Research  Department  of  the  Rand  School 
of  Social  Science:  The  American  Labor  Year 
Book Mary  La  Dame 212 

La  Dame:  Securing  Employment  for  the  Handi- 
capped      Bryce  M.  Stewart 209 

Lauck:  Political  and  Industrial  Democracy  1776- 

1926 E.  R.  Burton 395 

Leuck :  Fields  of  Work  for  Women Grace  E.  Manson 133 

Lott:  Wage  Scales  and  Job  Evaluation John  S.  Keir 394 

Meyer:  Abnormal  Psychology Shepherd  I.  Franz 397 

Miller:  Types  of  Mind  and  Body F.  L.  Wells 302 


X  Contents 

Mills:  Vacations  for  Industrial  Workers Leifur  Magnusson 205 

Mosher:  Personal  Hygiene  for  Women Edith  Mulhall  Achilles 484 

Newfang:  Harmonj^  Between  Labor  and  Capital..     Leo  Wolman 307 

Olson:  The  Bureau  of  Educational  Counsel  of  the 

La  Salle-Peru  Township  High  School Ben  D.  Wood 62 

Patterson    and    Scholz:  Economic     Problems    of 

Modern  Life 138 

Piatt,  Jr. :  The  Book  of  Opportunities.    What  3000 

American  Occupations  Have  to  Offer Max  Freyd 311 

Poffenberger:  Applied  Psychology Max  Freyd 398 

Ruch  et  al.:  Objective  Examination  Methods  in 

the  Social  Studies Clifford  Woody 131 

Schell  and  Thurlby:  Problems  in  Industrial  Man- 
agement      Merrill  R.  Lott 310 

Schluter:  How  to  do  Research  Work Dorothy  M.  Sells 129 

Schrumpf-Pierron:  Tobacco  and  Physical  Effi- 
ciency      Max  Freyd 479 

Smith:  Industrial  Education — Administration  and 
Supervision H.  C.  Link 479 

Spearman:  The  Abilities  of  Man Carl  C.  Brigham 303 

Swift:  How  to  Influence  Men H.  A.  Overstreet 391 

Thomson:  The  Springs  of  Human  Action Mark  A.  May 392 

Thorndike,    Bregman,    Cobb,    Woodyard,    et    al.: 

The  Measurement  of  Intelligence Arthur  S.  Otis 130 

Valentine:  The  Psychology  of  Personality Ordway  Tead 482 

Wallin:  Clinical  and  Abnormal  Psychology A.  H.  Sutherland 482 

Wallis:  An  Introduction  to  Anthropology Clark  Wissler 213 

Weidemann:  How    to    Construct    the    True-False 

Examination Fred  Telford 483 

Wells:  Mental  Tests  in  Clinical  Practice Stevenson  Smith 396 

Wood  and  Hendriksen:  Ventilation  and  Health. . .     Max  Freyd 311 

NEW  BOOKS 
Pages  62,  139,  213,  313,  399,  484 

CURRENT  PERIODICALS 
Pages  69,  153,  221,  323,  408,  493 

CONTRIBUTORS 
Leading  articles  are  marked  (A)  and  reviews  (R) 

Achilles,  Edith  Mulhall 484  (R)  Brewer,  John  M 171  (A) 

Anderson,  L.  Dewey 473  (A)  Brigham,  Carl  C 303  (R) 

Anderson,  Mary 329  (A)  Brissenden,  Paul  F 210  (R) 

Anderson,  V.  V 417  (A)  Brown,  Charles  F 176  (A) 

Baridon,  F.  E 29  (A)  Burr,  Emily 309  (R) 

Barker,  Margaret 119  (A)  Burton,  E.  R 395  (R) 

Bartlett,  E.  D 199  (A)  Carpenter,  Niles 229  (A) 

Beatty,  John  D 344  C A)  Castner,  B.  M 306  (R) 

Berridge,  William  A 1  (A)  Cleeton,  Glen  U 344  (A) 

Bingham,  W.  V 251  (A),  295  (A)  Craig,  David  R 155  (A) 

Bird,  Grace  E 56  f A)  Cummings,  Commander  D.  E 87(A) 

Board,  Samuel  S 212  (R)  Cunliffe,  R.  B 25  (A) 


Contents 


XI 


Davidson,  Margaret  R 266  (.A 

Franz,  Shepherd  1 397  (R 

Freyd,  Max 208  (R),  311  (R),  398  (R) 

479  (R 

Gilson,  Mary  B 134  (R 

Greene,  James  H 442  (A 

Hewlett,  Theodosia  C 352  (A 

Hogg,  Mary  1 331  (A 

Johnson,  O.  R 302  (R 

Jones,  Edward  S 182  (A 

Keane,  Francis  L 15  (A 

Keir,  John  S 394  (R 

Kinzer,  Anne  L 442  (A 

Kitson,  Harry  D 192  (A),  276  (A 

Kornhauser,  Arthur  W 38  (A 

La  Dame,  Mary 212  (R 

Lester,  Olive  P 352  (A 

Levin,  Samuel  M 75  (A),  161  (A 

Link,  H.  C 479  (R 

Lott,  Merrill  R 310  (R),  480  (R 

MacPhail,  Andrew  H 266  (A 

Magnusson,  Leifur 205  (R 

Manson,  Grace  E 133  (R 

May,  Mark  A 392  (R 

McCarter,  Walter  J 338  (A 

Meine,  Franklin  J 367  (A),  448  (A 

Miner,  J.  B 113  (A 

Mitchell,  Jr.,  John  P 136  (R 

Moore,  B.  V 124  (A 


O'Connor,  Johnson 15  (A) 

Otis,  Arthur  S 130  (R) 

Overstreet,  H.  A 391  (R) 

Paterson,  Donald  G 132  (R) 

Paynter,  Richard  H 283  (A) 

Polakov,  Walter  N 206  (R) 

Roe,  Anna  M 176  (A) 

Sells,  Dorothy  M 129  (R) 

Sheldon,  Wm.  H 47  (A),  102  (A) 

Shellow,  Sadie  Myers 338  (A) 

Slocombe,  C.  S 251  (A) 

Smith,  Stevenson 396  (R) 

Stead,  W.  H 60  (R) 

Stewart,  Bryce  M 209  (R) 

Stoy,  E.  G 93  (.A),  361  (A) 

Sutherland,  A.  H 482  (R) 

Tead,  Ordway 393  (R),  482  (R) 

Telford,  Fred 483  (R) 

Toops,  Herbert  A 457  (A) 

Wells,  F.  L 302  (R) 

Williams,  A.  H 307  (R) 

Winslow,  Mary  N 242  (A) 

Wissler,  Clark 213  (R) 

Wolaver,  E.  S 137  (R> 

Wolman,  Leo 307  (R) 

Wood,  Alice  I.  Perry 263  (A) 

Wood,  Ben  D 62  (R) 

WoodrufJ,  Wm.  H 173  (A),  258  (A) 

Woody,  Clifford 131  (R) 


A  New  Set  of  Labor  Turnover  Indexes' 

By  William  A.  Berridge,  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company 
and  Brown  University 

Another  cooperative  enterprise  in  gathering  labor  turnover  rec- 
ords, similar  to  the  one  presented  in  the  February  number,  is 
here  described.  Reporting  firms  send  their  turnover  data  monthly 
to  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company  and  the  Brown 
Bureau  of  Business  Research.  Dr.  Berridge's  records  are  gath- 
ered from  firms  employing  five  per  cent  of  the  country's  factory 
labor.  He  shows  that  they  represent  conditions  in  the  country 
as  a  whole. 


AMONG  the  proposals  contained 
in  an  earlier  article  in  this 
Journal^  was  that  of  the 
more  widespread  measurement  and 
effective  pooKng  of  current  labor 
turnover  experience.  Reference  was 
made  to  a  modest  project  of  that  sort, 
launched  by  Brown  University,  in 
May,  1925,  among  Rhode  Island 
manufacturers.  The  purpose  of  the 
present  paper  is  incidentally  to  re- 
view the  further  progress  of  that 
investigation,  but  chiefly  to  describe 

1  Presenting  in  substance  papers  read 
before  the  American  Statistical  Assocation, 
December  29,  1925,  and  the  Personnel  Re- 
search Federation,  April  30,  1926.  Neces- 
sary revisions  and  extensions  of  charts, 
tables,  etc.,  have  been  made  as  of  Novem- 
ber, 1926. 

The  assistance  of  Miss  Hilda  M.  Hoff- 
man in  both  of  the  investigations  reported 
upon  in  this  article  is  hereby  gratefully 
acknowledged. 

*  W.  A.  Berridge.  Quantitative  Analy- 
sis: Some  Applications  to  Personnel  Prob- 
lems. Journal  of  Personnel  Research, 
Vol.  4, 1925,  166-172. 


another,  somewhat  broader  in  char- 
acter, inaugurated  later  by  the  Metro- 
pohtan  Life  Insurance  Company. 

SOME    PRECAUTIONS 

That  description  should  be  prefaced 
by  four  comments,  somewhat  of  the 
nature  of  precautions: 

(1)  The  writer  holds  no  brief  in  favor  of 
the  self-sufficiency,  or  even  the  superiority, 
of  "time  series"  as  a  technique  for  analyzing 
variations  in  the  workforce.  The  time  is 
not  yet  ripe  for  evaluating  the  role  of  this 
in  relation  to  other  possible  techniques, 
among  which  a  very  promising  one  (though 
again,  not  self-sufficient  for  all  purposes)  is 
"persistency  analysis,"  one  form  of  which 
is  described  by  Miss  Du  Bois.' 

(2)  The  basic  definitions  applied  by  em- 
ployment managers  to  the  elements  com- 
prising what  is  loosely  termed,  for  lack  of  a 
better  name,  "labor  turnover"  are  still  far 
from  perfect  in  either  precision  or  consist- 
ency.   When  is  a  layoff  not  a  layoff,  but  a 

3  Florence  Du  Bois,  at  the  April  30,  1926, 
meeting  held  by  the  Committee  on  Methods 
of  Research  in  Industrial  Relations. 


THE   PERSONNEL   JOURNAL,    VOL.    VI,   NO.    1 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


discharge?  How  long  does  an  involuntary 
temporary  separation  due  to  lack  of  work 
last  before  it  is  defined  as  a  layoff?  After 
how  long  a  disappearance  is  an  absentee 
rated  as  a  quitter?  And  when  is  a  volun- 
tary resignation  really  a  discharge,  thinly 
disguised  for  the  sake  of  the  employee's  feel- 
ings? Personnel  managers  do  not  alwaj-s 
face  squarely,  and  answer  with  precision, 
these  and  similar  questions  of  definition. 
And  even  when  they  do  so  they  rarelj' 
come  to  perfect  agreement. 

Such  difficulties  are  probably  less  serious 
in  the  field  of  factory  labor,  with  which  this 
paper  exclusively  deals,  than  in  certain 
others,  particularly  those  where  "white- 
collar  workers"  predominate;  and  there  is 
unmistakably  in  progress  a  trend  toward 
both  greater  claritj'  and  greater  consist- 
ency.* Yet  inconsistency,  and  the  existence 
of  a  "penumbra"  rather  than  a  sharp  di- 
viding line — a  leaky  rather  than  a  water- 
tight compartment — separating  these  defi- 
nitions, should  be  frankly  recognized  at  the 
outset.  Our  hope  and  belief  are  simply 
that  these  two  faults  in  the  basic  data  do 
not  destroy,  but  only  impair  to  an  indeter- 
minate though  probably  slight  extent,  the 
dependability  of  the  several  indexes  for 
factor}-  labor  turnover  presented  below. 

(3)  In  the  view  of  the  writer,  labor  turn- 
over is  much  too  complex  a  problem  to  be 
measured  by  any  single  variable.  For  ex- 
ample, the  total  separation  rate,  which  has 
been  advocated  as  "the"  turnover  index 
by  some  authorities,  seems  upon  analysis 
to  be  clearly  inadequate.  The  argument 
against  it  is  simple  enough.  Separations 
are  of  three  major  types:  (1)  voluntary 
resignations  or  quits,  (2)  layoffs,  and  (3) 
discharges.  These  types  of  separation 
differ  markedly  from  one  another  as  to 
causation;  therefore  time  series  represent- 
ing them  ma\-,  and  often  do,  vary  inversely 
rather  than  together.  Accordingly  it  is 
generally  unwise  to  use  the  total  separa- 
tion-rate without  subdivision.  In  personnel 
analysis   as   in   physics   and   engineering, 

*  The  Rochester  Conference  of  May,  1918, 
and  the  investigation  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Labor  Statistics  in  1918  and  1919  gave 
considerable  impetxis  to  this  movement. 


sound  scientific  practice  calls  for  "isola- 
tion" from  one  another  of  forces  essentially 
dissimilar  in  their  nature  and  effects. 

(4)  Another  point  is  that  the  accession 
rate  should  not  be  overlooked,  for  it  is 
essential  to  labor-turnover  analysis.  It 
provides  a  statistical  check  upon  the  layoff 
rate,  by  virtue  of  the  tendency  of  accessions 
to  vary  inversely  with  laj'offs.  It  also  aids 
in  interpreting  the  course  of  both  discharges 
and  voluntary  quits;  often  the  incidence  of 
discharges,  and  almost  always  that  of 
voluntary  quits,  are  especially  heavy  among 
newly  acquired  workpeople. 

THE   BASIC   FORM 

The  form  in  which  the  crude  data 
on  these  variables  are  being  reported 
each  month  to  the  ]\IetropoHtan  Life 
is  shown  herewith.  This  follows 
closely  the  one  previously  evolved  by 
the  Bureau  of  Business  Research  at 
Brown  University  in  the  work  which 
it  began  during  May,  1925,  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  Industrial  Relations 
Association  of  Rhode  Island.  Each 
company's  returns  are  coded. 

At  the  present  writing^  the  IMetro- 
pohtan  secures  these  monthly  reports 
directly  from  about  135  manufacturers, 
the  Brown  Bureau  from  about  45  lo- 
cated in  Rhode  Island.  Of  the  latter, 
about  15  are  included  (with  their 
consent)  in  the  national  study  of  the 
JNIetropohtan.  About  10  of  the  20 
or  more  Philadelphia  manufacturers 
reporting  to  the  Department  of  In- 
dustrial Research  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  are  also  included."^  Thus 
the  jMetropolitan's  study  now  covers 

•  The  figures  cited  have  been  revised  as 
of  November,  1926. 

^  More  of  the  local  data  collected  by  these 
two  cooperating  agencies  would  have  been 
utilized,  but  for  the  danger  of  overweight- 
ing these  two  sections  in  the  national  in- 
dexes of  the  Metropolitan. 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


altogether  about  160  manufacturers; 
their  employees,  who  number  about 
400,000,  represent  perhaps  5  per 
cent  of  all  the  factory  wage  earners 
at  present  employed  in  the  entire 
countrv^ 


many  purposes.  The  present  writer 
and  other  investigators  have  in  recent 
years  discovered  that  a  small,  well- 
selected  sample  often  jdelds  surpris- 
ingly rehable  results,  under  suitable 
conditions  and  for  certain  definitely 


After  filling  in,  please  mail  to 
Policyholders'  Service  Bureau 

Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company 

One  Madison  Avenue 

Xew  York  City 

Labor  Turnover  i.v  Company During 

(Code  number) 

Do  these  figxires  refer  to: 

calendar  month? 

four  weeks?  

five  weeks?  


,192. 


Separations 

a.  Voluntary  Quits. . , 

b.  Discharges 

c.  Layoffs , 

d.  Total  Separations. 


II.  Accessions  (including  both  first  employment  and  re-hires) 

III.  Base  Number  (Note:  Entry  (a)  will  be  sufficient  if  others  under  III  are  not  con- 
veniently available  for  your  factory  force) 
a.  Daily  Average  Number  on  Payroll 


6.  Number  on  payroll  at 


beginning  of  period. 


end  of  period 

c.  Daily  average  number  actually  at  work 

!  beginning  of  period. 
a.  Number  actually  at  work  at -; 

lend  of  period 

e.  Number  of  employee-hours  during  period 


IV.  COMMENTS  on  any  special  incident  affecting  your  figures  this  month: 


EEPRESENTATR'EXESS : 
DEXCE 


A    PRIORI    EVI- 


This  sample,  though  it  may  seem 
small  to  some  readers,  is  adequate  for 


Initials  of  Compiler 


circumscribed  purposes.  This  state- 
ment is  true  of  data  on  employment, 
unemplo^Tiient .  production,  and  com- 
modity prices,  security  prices,  and 
other  t\'pes  of  economic  time-series. 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


In  the  Metropolitan's  sample^  of  labor 
turnover  data,  there  is  certainly  a 
wide  representation  in  respect  to 
geographical  location,  size  of  city  or 
town,  size  of  estabhshment,  age  of 
establishment,  nature  of  product, 
length  of  service  of  employees,  sex 
and  skill  distribution  in  the  workforce, 


considered  a  possible  source  of  bias. 
There  is  no  way  to  decide  definitely 
whether,  or  to  what  extent,  this 
"silent  evidence"  would  affect  the 
averages  which  we  have  obtained ;  but 
the  point  seems  hardly  to  form  a 
serious  objection  to  regarding  our 
sample  as  essentially  a  "random"  one. 


10 


6 


a 


6 


•J* 


•  ••••••••• 


••• 


^H 


z   _i   o   a    I-    >   o 
^  ^  5  nj   y  Q  uJ 

-3    -J    <    to    o    z    Q 

1925 


"^  S  9=  5; 

UJ     <     Q.     < 

or  2  <  s 


-J     <     CO 


1926 


Z  CO  Q;  ck  >- 
<  UJ  <  Q.  < 
T    u.    £    <    Z 


-1  o  a, 
3  r>  in 

-3     <       CO 


1926 


Fig.  1.  Analysis  of  Three  Leading  Types  of  Separations 
(Unit:  one  per  cent — monthly  basis) 


rates  of  pay,  and  the  like.*  The  fact 
that  of  necessity  no  company  without 
turnover  records,  and  none  having 
them  but  not  wishing  to  contribute 
them  could  be  represented,  may  be 

^  Space  limits  publication  of  the  list  here. 
Eighty-seven  of  the  companies  are  listed 
in  the  article,  Your  Labor  Turnover:  Good 
or  Bad?,  in  Factory  for  September,  1926. 

*  Fewer  than  one-third  of  these  135  man- 
ufacturers are  group  insurance  policyhold- 
ers of  the  Metropolitan. 


REVIEW  OF  RECENT  TURNOVER 
CHANGES 

Figure  1  shows  how  the  leading 
components  of  the  average  separation 
rate  have  varied,  month  by  month, 
since  the  origin  of  the  two  investiga- 
tions—that of  Brown  (May,  1925,  to 
date)  at  the  left,  that  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan (January,  1926,  to  date)  at  the 
right.  Tables  1  and  2  show  the 
actual  course  of  these  averages,  to- 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


gether  with  the  accession  rate.  It 
will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  during 
the  periods  covered  the  discharge 
rate  was  small  and  varied  only 
shghtly,  the  layoff  rate  was  also  small 
but  frequently  showed  somewhat  more 
variation,    while    the    quit-rate    not 

TABLE  1 
Median    labor    turnover    rates    in    selected 
Rhode  Island  factories — numbering  up  to  40 
(All  rates  are  stated  as  percentages  of  num- 
ber on  payroll — monthly  basis) 


19S5 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September . 
October. . . , 
November . 
December. , 


19X6 

January 

February. . 

March 

April 

May 

June , 

July 

August 

September . 
October*. . . 


0 

m  m 
m  H 

H  ^ 

< 

0 

OS 

b  H 

0.7 

3.2 

2.9 

1.8 

3.1 

2.7 

2.1 

0.3 

3.0 

3.0 

2.1 

0.5 

3.1 

2.6 

1.6 

0.5 

4.1 

3.7 

2.6 

0.6 

4.1 

3.3 

2.2 

0.5 

4.4 

2.8 

2.1 

0.2 

2.6 

1.8 

1.2 

0.2 

1.6 

2.4 

1.4 

0.7 

2.1 

1.5 

1.2 

0.0 

4.6 

3.3 

2.2 

0.7 

3.6 

3.6 

2.5 

0.4 

3.8 

3.1 

1.7 

0.8 

2.2 

3.1 

2.0 

0.3 

2.3 

2.2 

1.6 

0.2 

2.4 

1.8 

1.4 

0.2 

4.4 

2.4 

1.9 

0.1 

2.4 

2.2 

1.8 

0.3 

0.4 
0.3 
0.4 
0.5 
0.5 
0.6 
0.5 
0.4 

0.3 
0.3 
0.4 
0.7 
0.6 
0.8 
0.4 
0.2 
0.4 
0.1 


*  Preliminary. 

only  (1)  was  in  general  considerably 
larger  than  the  other  two  combined, 
but  also  (2)  varied  much  more  vio- 
lently. 

These  two  characteristics  of  the 
quit-rate  experience  are  among  the 
reasons  for  singhng  out  that  turnover 
variable    for    intensive    analysis    in 


this  article.  Another  reason  is  that 
the  quit-rate  is  inherently  motivated 
by  the  employee,  whose  shifting  atti- 
tude toward  his  job  and  toward  out- 
side opportunities  the  employer  is 
much  less  able  to  measure  than  he  can 
such  other  variables  as  layoffs  and 
accessions,  which  directly  reflect  his 
own  managerial  action.  The  em- 
ployer knows  his  own  mind  better 
than  that  of  his  employees;  therefore 

TABLE  2 
Median  labor  tiirnover  rates  in  selected 
American  factories — numbering 
up  to  135 
(All  rates  are  stated  as  percentages  of  num- 
ber on  payroll — monthly  basis) 


January . .  . 
February. . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September. 
October*. . . 


z 
0 

•< 

z 
0 

H 
<  < 

IB 

> 

4.8 

3.3 

2.3 

0.4 

4.3 

3.1 

2.1 

0.5 

4.8 

4.3 

3.0 

0.6 

4.3 

5.0 

3.8 

0.5 

5.1 

4.3 

3.2 

0.5 

4.7 

3.8 

2.9 

0.5 

4.6 

4.5 

3.3 

0.6 

5.6 

4.4 

3.4 

0.4 

5.7 

4.8 

3.9 

0.4 

4.9 

3.7 

2.7 

0.4 

0.6 
0.5 
0.7 
0.7 
0.6 
0.4 
0.6 
0.6 
0.5 
0.6 


*  Preliminary, 

the  management  use,  as  distinguished 
from  the  economic  use,  of  turnover 
barometers  makes  it  most  desirable  to 
set  up  measurements  and  compari- 
sons in  respect  to  that  turnover  which 
is  employee-motivated — that  part  of 
the  equation  where  the  "unknown  x" 
is  secreted.  Hence  most  of  what 
follows  is  concerned  with  the  quit- 
rate,  for  which  the  MetropoHtan  has 
succeeded  in  collecting  data  from  a 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


fair  proportion  of  its  reporting  manu- 
facturers back  to  1919  by  months. 

THE  MOST  SUITABLE  FORM  OF  AVERAGE 

In  each  of  the  three  rates  traced  in 
figure  1,  and  in  that  of  accession  rates 
also,'  we  have  used  each  month  the 
median  of  the  rates  experienced  by 
all  reporting  companies.  The  median, 
it  will  be  recalled,  is  the  central  item 
of  an  array  whose  items  have  been 
arranged  in  order  of  magnitude.  Thus, 
to  take  an  extremely  simple  case,  the 
five  items,  1.3,  4.5,  0.2,  15.7  and  1.9, 
are  seen  (when  they  are  arranged 
according  to  magnitude,  15.7,  4.5, 
1.9,  1.3,  and  0.2)  to  have  1.9  as  their 
median. 

The  employment  of  the  median  in 
this  type  of  personnel  analysis  is  not 
usual,  and  requires  justification. 
There  are  two  main  reasons  for  its  use 
here.  One  is  the  ease  with  which  it  is 
determined.  The  other  and  more 
important  reason  is  that  the  median 
seems  to  provide  the  soundest  central 
tendency  from  which  to  measure 
de\dations  of  an  individual  company's 
experience,  since  it  largety  avoids  the 
danger  of  overweighting  any  extremely 
large  (or  small)  company  present  in 
the  group,  and  that  of  overweighting 
the  extremely  high  (or  low)  rate  ex- 
perienced  by   a  reporting   company. 

Suppose  that  the  five  rates  above 
quoted  were  derived  from  the  experi- 
ence in  the  accompanying  table. 

One  method  would  have  been  sim- 
ply to  divide  the  total  number  of 
accessions  (320)  by  the  total  number 
on  the  five  payrolls  (20,000),  jaelding 

'  For  the  separation  rate,  the  sum  of  the 
three  component  medians  has  been  used  in 
both  figure  1  and  tables  1  and  2. 


a  rate  of  l.G  per  cent.  This  is,  in 
effect,  an  arithmetic  mean  of  the  rates 
shown  in  column  3  weighted  by  the 
number  on  payroll.  Company  A's 
15,000  employees,  constituting  three- 
fourths  of  the  total,  have  the  hon's 
share  of  influence  in  such  an  average, 
which  naturally  works  out  not  far 
from  that  company's  own  rate  (1.6 
as  compared  with  1.3  per  cent).  If 
we  wish  to  give  cognizance  to  the 
general  run  of  management  experience, 
rather  than  to  the  aggregate  number 
of  quittings  which  happen  to  be 
involved,  this  particular  form  of 
average  is  clearly  unsatisfactory. 


NUMBER  OX 

ACTUAL 

ACCESSION 

COMPANT 

PAYROLL 

ACCESSIONS 

BATE 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

per  cent 

A 

15,000 

195 

1.3 

B 

1,200 

54 

4.5 

C 

2,500 

5 

0.2 

D 

300 

47 

15.7 

E 

1,000 

19 

1.9 

Totals .... 

20,000 

320 

To  a  method  so  crude,  one  counter- 
proposal would  be  simply  to  strike 
an  arithmetic  average,  without  any 
weighting  by  size  of  company,  of  the 
five  rates  shown  in  column  3.  This 
would  give  a  mean  rate  of  4.7  per 
cent.  The  objection  to  this  average 
is  simply  that  it  is  unduly  sensitive 
to  exceptionally  low  or  high  rates. 
In  this  instance,  the  highest  rate 
(15.7  for  Company  D)  has  such  an 
influence  that  its  presence  alone  raises 
the  mean  to  4.7  per  cent  from  the 
value  (2.0  per  cent)  which  the  latter 
would  have  had  if  only  the  other  four 
companies'  rates  had  been  averaged. 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


The  median  tends  to  avoid  both  of 
these  dangers,  since  (1)  it  is  drawn 
from  the  array  of  the  rates  experienced 
by  the  individual  companies  irrespec- 
tive of  size  of  the  company,  and  (2) 
it  is  determined  by  the  mere  position 
of  the  central  rate,  and  is  therefore 
independent  of  the  actual  size  of  those 
exceptional  rates  lying  at  one  or  the 
other  of  the  outer  fringes  of  turnover 
experience.  In  the  illustration  con- 
sidered, the  median  would  still  have 


to  avoid  overweighting  of  extreme 
rates  may  seem  exaggerated.  That 
such  is  not  the  case  may  be  seen  from 
figure  2,  on  which  are  shown  both  the 
median  (full  line)  and  the  unweighted 
arithmetic  mean  (dotted  hne)  of  the 
quit-rates  reported  by  the  Metro- 
politan's  group   of   manufacturers. 

Evidently  the  mean  exceeded  the 
median  at  all  points  throughout  the 
eight  years.  Although  the  actual 
discrepancy  is  small  at  the  low  points 


Fig.  2.  Median  and   Arithmetic  Mean   of  Quit    Rates — Among    National 

Manufacturers 

median;   unweighted   arithmetic   mean.     (Unit:  one   per   cent — 


monthly  basis.) 


been  1.9  per  cent,  even  if  the  rate  for 
D  had  been  much  higher,  or  that  for 
C  lower,  than  shown. 

The  desirability,  in  the  problem 
before  us,  of  avoiding  the  first  dan- 
ger— the  partial  eclipsing  by  large 
companies  of  medium-  and  small-sized 
ones  in  their  influence  upon  the  crude 
average — will  probably  be  conceded 
by  most  readers.  But  the  other 
danger  of  using  the  arithmetic  mean 
rather  than  the  less  common  median 


on  the  curves,  it  is  large  at  those  times 
when  the  curves  were  higher,  e.g., 
at  the  minor  peaks  of  the  last  three 
years,  and  particularly  in  the  major 
peaks  of  1923  and  1920.  In  those  two 
periods,  discrepancies  of  two  to  four 
per  cent  per  month  (approximately 
25  to  50  per  cent,  if  stated  on  the 
yearly  basis)  were  not  at  all  uncom- 
mon. In  general,  the  mean  exceeded 
the  median  by  one-third  to  one-fifth 
the  size  of  the  latter.     The  appear- 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


35 


1919  I920         1921  1922  1923         1924  1925         1926 

Fig.  3.  General  View  of  Changing  Dispersion  in  Quit  Rate  Experience — Among 

National  Manufacturers 

(Unit :  one  per  cent — monthly  basis. )  The  three  full  lines  represent  the  highest,  median, 
and  lowest  rates  reported  each  month;  the  two  dotted  lines  represent  the  monthly  quartiles. 
Therefore  at  all  times  one-quarter  of  the  quit  rates  reported  lie  in  each  of  the  four  zones 
thus  formed. 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


9 


ance  of  such  discrepancies  is  enough 
to  show  that  the  problem  of  choosing 
a  sound  form  of  average  is  by  no 
means  a  matter  of  mere  academic 
refinement. 

The  reason  for  such  discrepancies  is 
readily  apparent  from  a  study  of 
figure  3,  in  the  hght  of  what  has  been 
said  about  the  influence  of  extreme 
items  upon  the  arithmetic  mean.  Of 
the  five  hues  plotted  there,  the  middle 
one  represents  the  median  rate  shown 
in  the  preceding  chart.  The  lower- 
most line  represents  the  lowest  rate 
recorded  each  month,  the  uppermost 
the  highest  rate.  The  two  interven- 
ing dotted  lines  trace  the  course  of  the 
two  "quartiles,"  which  in  turn  are 
simply  the  medians,  respectively,  (1) 
of  all  the  rates  Ijdng  below,  and  (2) 
of  those  above,  the  median  of  the  whole 
array.  In  other  words,  the  rates  of 
indi\adual  reporting  companies  would, 
in  any  month,  if  actually  marked  by 
dots  on  the  chart,  be  distributed  along 
the  vertical  line  for  that  month  in  the 
following  manner: 

One  quarter  between  lowermost  line  and 

lower  quartile 
One  quarter  between  lower  quartile  and 

median 
One  quarter  between  median  and  upper 

quartile 
One  quarter  between  upper  quartile  and 

uppermost  line 

Brief  examination  of  figure  3  shows 
that,  in  general,  the  two  quartile 
Hues  remain  nearer  to  the  median 
hne  than  they  do  to  the  two  hues  of 
extremes.  This  signifies  a  clustering 
tendency  in  the  vicinity  of  the  median. 
That  half  of  the  companies'  rates  ly- 
ing between  the  two  quartiles  shows 
less  dispersion  than  do  the  two  twenty- 


five  per  cents  lying  outside  the  quar- 
tile hues. 

Especially  wide  is  the  "spread"  in 
the  upper  twenty-five  per  cent  zone. 
This  is  natural,  since  in  the  upward 
direction  "the  sky  is  the  limit," 
whereas  in  the  downward  direction  the 
limit  is  obviously  "the  ground,"  i.e., 
zero.  The  presence  of  as  many  as 
one-quarter  of  the  reporting  com- 
panies so  far  from  the  main  grouping 
gives  them  the  rather  marked  influ- 
ence upon  the  arithmetic  mean  dis- 
closed by  figure  2;  they  are  typified 
by  Company  D  in  the  illustrative 
array  previously  cited.  They  impart 
to  the  aritlimetic  mean  a  systematic 
upward  bias. 

Consideration  of  these  facts  has  led 
us  to  the  adoption  of  the  median  in 
preference  to  other  measures  of  cen- 
tral tendency,  for  studying  the  general 
course  of  time  series  representing  the 
several  components  of  labor  turnover. 

representativeness:  empiri- 
cal EVIDENCE 

Supporting  the  a  priori  evidence 
already  cited^*'  in  favor  of  accepting 
our  sample  as  an  essentially  random 
and  therefore  rehable  one,  there  is 
empirical  evidence  also.  Some^^  of  it 
is  presented  in  figures  4  and  5. 

In  figure  4  are  presented  three  sets 
of  monthly  medians  drawn  from 
samples  of  varying  sizes — numbering 
up  to  25,  to  41,  and  to  61  companies 
respectively.     These     three     indexes 

1°  Supra,  page  3. 

^^  Still  further  evidence  of  this  type  is 
offered  in  the  writer's  article.  Labor  and  the 
Business  Cycle:  Some  Industrial  Aspects, 
Review  of  Economic  Statistics,  Vol.  8,  1926, 
134r-143.   See  especially  p.  138  ff. 


10 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


were  set  up,  at  different  times,  before  aged  to  secure,  and  had  found  reason- 
enough  returns  were  secured  to  permit  ably  free  from  the  effects  of  strikes 
construction  of  the  present  index  for     and  other  disturbing  forces. 


1919 


20 


•22 


14 
12 
10 

14 

n    !  fiA 

12 
10 

f*<  P"      t      v\l\ 

6 

i'r^B       'X 

iv\'^ 

a 

t*r  \f      \ 

1 

■  M\   I 

6 

,h 

c  W  * 

6 

V 

1                           /V  IV 

/     ^t 

4 
2 

\/y 

F  'i 

^ 

4 

\ 

.l"^\ 

/  ^ 

,/^ 

Sy/ 

"  V 

If — ^ ^ 

2 

0 

0 

23 


'24 


•25 


Fig.  4.  Three  Successive  Approximations  to  Index  of  Quit  Rates — Among  National 

Manufacturers 


25  companies ; 41  companies ; 

cent — monthly  basis.) 


61  companies.    (Unit:  one  per 


t 

\ 

h 

/^ 

^^  f\ 

/ 

1^. 

\  /' 

'--^ 

\^ 

A 

A 

v/ 

--v^ 

\ 

\./ 

V 

/^ 

/ 

\ 

KJ 

A-v^ 

<• 

vy 

+  2.5 
+  20 
+  15 
+  1.0 
+  5 
0 

-  6 

-  1.0 
-1.5 

•20 


1319  'ao  '21  22  23  '24  25  19Z6 

Fig.  5.  Comparison  of  Two  Labor  Barometers — Adjusted  for  Seasonal  Variation 

index  of  quit  rates;  (Scale  A;  unit,  one  per  cent — monthly  basis.) 


index  of  employment  office  ratios;  (Scale    B:    base,    1919-1922  average    =    0,    unit,  one 
standard  deviation.) 


160  companies,  which  is  here  omitted  The  three  sets  of  companies  are, 

to  avoid  confusion.     On  each  of  these  of    course,    not    mutually    exclusive; 

occasions  use  was  made  of  all  com-  the  25  are  included  in  the  41,  and  the 

panics'  records  which  we  had  man-  41  in  the  61.     Nevertheless  the  fact 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


11 


that  these  successive  approximations 
resemble  one  another  as  closely  as 
they  do — very  closely  indeed,  except 
during  certain  parts  of  1919,  1920  and 
1923 — suggests  the  surprising  validity 
of  small  samples,  when  chosen  with  a 
view  to  securing  "randomness"  and 
combined  by  a  suitable  form  of 
average.  If  the  smaller  samples  had 
not  yielded  a  fairly  satisfactory  ap- 
proximation, why  did  not  much  greater 
discrepancies  appear   as   successively 


adjusted  for  seasonal  variation.^  The 
employment  office  curve  represents 
the  ratio  of  jobs  offered  to  jobs  applied 
for  at  public  employment  offices  in 
six  States  combined — New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  Ohio, 
IlKnois,  and  Wisconsin. ^^  Such  a  ra- 
tio should  fluctuate  with  quitting 
rates  if  our  index  of  the  latter  is 
valid.  Figure  5  shows  that  it  does 
so.  A  high  order  of  parallelism  be- 
tween the  two  curves,  in  both  major 


TABLE  3 

Median  voluntary  quit  rate  in  selected  American  factories — numbering  up  lo  160 

(Rate  is  stated  as  percentage  of  number  on  payroll — monthly  basis) 

1926 


January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

*  Preliminary 


1919 

1920 

1921 

1922 

1923 

1924 

1925 

4.0 

8.2 

1.8 

1.6 

4.1 

2.6 

2.2 

3.2 

8.2 

1.6 

1.8 

5.5 

2.2 

2.0 

4.3 

11.9 

2.5 

2.2 

7.2 

3.8 

3.0 

4.5 

11.7 

2.7 

3.0 

9.5 

4.7 

4.0 

4.9 

8.9 

2.5 

4.7 

8.5 

3.6 

3.4 

7.8 

9.7 

2.8 

5.3 

8.4 

2.5 

3.4 

5.8 

10.4 

2.5 

5.2 

7.8 

2.2 

3.2 

7.5 

10.7 

2.4 

6.0 

6.6 

2.2 

3.4 

7.9 

9.4 

2.7 

6.8 

7.1 

2.5 

4.1 

7.2 

6.1 

2.1 

5.9 

4.6 

2.3 

3.6 

6.9 

3.2 

1.7 

5.0 

3.1 

1.6 

2.5 

5.6 

2.5 

1.4 

3.5 

2.2 

1.8 

2.1 

2.1 
2.2 
3.0 
4.0 
3.4 
3.3 
3.3 
3.4 
3.9 
2.7* 


larger  samples  became  available?  The 
conclusion  seems  fairly  inescapable, 
that  our  final  index  deserves  to  be 
given  credence  even  though  it  is  based 
on  a  sample  as  small  as  5  per  cent  of 
the  country's  factory  workers. 

Further  empirical  proof  in  its  sup- 
port is  also  available.  Figure  5  shows 
a  comparison  between  the  quit-rate 
index  and  an  index  of  employment 
office  operations  constructed  for  the 
Federal  Reserve  Board  several  years 
ago  by  the  writer;  both  indexes  are 


and  minor  fluctuations,  is  evident  to 
the  eye;  and  the  correlation  coeffi- 
cient^* is  +0.95.  The  vertical  differ- 
ence in  level  is  of  no  consequence — 

12  The  quit-rate  index  here  shown  is  that 
for  61  companies;  the  more  comprehensive 
one  has  not  yet  been  adjusted  for  seasonal 
variation. 

12  For  a  more  complete  description  see 
the  Federal  Reserve  Bulletin,  Vol.  10,  1924, 
83-87;  also  pp.  138-139  of  the  writer's  article 
referred  to  in  footnote  11. 

"  For  the  84  months,  January,  1919,  to 
December,  1925. 


12 


Birridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


being  due  solely  to  the  arbitrary- 
scaling,  which  was  so  planned  as  to 
keep  the  curves  offset  from  each  other. 
Still  another  fact  signifying  high 
representativeness  in  our  quit-rate  in- 
dex may  be  cited.  An  index^^  of  num- 
ber on  payrolls  of  the  turnover  report- 
ing companies  so  closely  resembles 
the  comprehensive  index  of  factory 
employment  constructed  by  the  Fed- 
eral Reserve  Board^®  as  to  yield  a  cor- 
relation coefficient^^  of  +0.91.     Em- 


that  our  companies  are  growing  so 
rapidly  as  to  have  an  unusual  pre- 
ponderance of  short-service  employees, 
and  therefore  (presumably)  a  higher 
level  of  quit  rates  than  in  industry  at 
large.  In  fact,  the  two  rates  of 
growth  are  so  nearly  alike  as  to  con- 
firm our  belief  that  the  sample  index 
represents  fairly  accurately  the  level 
as  well  as  the  cyclical  fluctuations^^ 
of  the  quitting  rates  in  industry  gen- 
erally. 


Company  Code  No.  Z224. 
Brown  Bureau  of  Business  Research 

LABOR  turnover  RATES  DURING   OCTOBER,    1926 

Your  Company's  Rates  Compared  with  the  Composite  Average  Rates  for  all 

Reporting  Companies 

(All  rates  represent  monthly  percentages  of  number  on  paj-roU) 

Y_.._      Composite  Composite 
r'„„°„„,.     Average        Average 
Company   f^j^  R.  I  •      for  U.  S.f 

I.  Separations 

(a)  Voluntary  quits 5.1  2,6  3.0 

(b)  Discharges 1.4  0.7  0.6 

(c)  Layoffs 0.2  0.3  0.4 

(d)  Total  Separations 6.7  3.6  4.0 

II.  All  Accessions  (including  both  first  employment  and  re-hires).  .7.2  4.1  5.3 

*  Represented  by  about  45  companies  reporting  to  Brown  Bureau  of  Business  Research. 
t  Represented  by  about   135  companies    reporting  to  Metropolitan   Life   Insurance 
Company. 


ployment  in  the  smaller  group  of  160 
companies  resembles  that  in  the  mass, 
not  only  with  respect  to  the  most 
important  fluctuations  but  also  with 
respect  to  general,  long-time  trend. 
Hence  it  probably  cannot  be  argued 

"  Constructed  by  chaining  together  suc- 
cessive month-to-month  percentages  of 
change  in  identical  establishments. 

"  Described  in  the  Federal  Reserve 
Bulletin,  Vol.  9, 1923,  1272-1279,  and  Vol.  11, 
1925,  324^330. 

"  For  the  84  months,  January,  1919,  to 
December,  1925. 


MANAGEMENT   USES 

The  application  of  labor  turnover 
records  to  problems  of  management  is 
still  in  its  very  infancy.  We  have 
found  it  desirable  to  devise  and  offer 
certain  methods  of  putting  to  practical 
use  the  composite  figures,  in  order  to 
gain  and  hold  the  cooperation  of  re- 
porting companies.  In  the  Metro- 
politan   as    in    the    Brown    project, 

1*  We  are  not  yet  prepared  to  state  how 
representative  are  its  seasonal  fluctuations. 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


13 


only  two  such  uses  have  yet   been 
employed. 

One  is  illustrated  by  the  accom- 
panying tabular  comparison.  Fifteen 
or  twenty  days  after  the  close  of  the 
month  each  company  receives  such  a 
sheet,  bearing  its  own  rates  (figured  by 
the  collecting  organization)  compared 
with  the  corresponding  composite 
rates.  Simple  though  they  are,  these 
sheets  are  frequently  very  illuminat- 
ing.    The  column  showing  the  com- 


perience  is  much  more  valuable  than 
the  merely  absolute  figures  of  the 
company  taken  alone.  It  is  especially 
valuable  when  the  changes  are  watched 
from  month  to  month  over  a  period. 
A  rise  or  fall  in  one  of  the  turnover 
series  for  a  company  does  not  of  itself 
prove  anything  whatsoever  as  to  the 
success  or  failure  of  a  particular 
managerial  policy. 

How  often  we  hear  remarks  hke 
this :  "Improvement  in  working  condi- 


1926 


Fig.  6.  One  Manufacturer's  Quit  Rate  Compared  with  Composite  Experience 
manufacturer  D802  (Scale  A) ; composite  experience  (Scale  B) .    (Unit : 


one  per  cent — monthly  basis.) 

posites  throws  much-needed  light  on 
the  current  condition  in  the  general 
labor  market;  the  composite  layoff  rate 
and  accession  rate  reflect  changes  in 
general  industrial  production  con- 
ditions. 

Cross-comparison  between  columns 
helps  the  personnel  manager  to  deter- 
mine how  far  out  of  line  with  the 
average  his  own  turnover  experience 
is  at  the  moment.  This  sort  of 
comparative  information  on  company 
experience  and  current  "normal"  ex- 


tions  in  our  plant  has  caused  our  quit- 
rate  to  decrease  40  per  cent;"  or  "We 
thought  for  a  while  that  welfare  work 
was  helping  us ;  then  our  turnover  rate 
took  a  turn  upward,  and  we  gave  up 
welfare."  This  post  hoc  ergo  propter 
hoc  reasoning  is,  of  course,  highly 
dangerous;  more  often  than  not,  it  is 
utterly  fallacious.  It  betrays  igno- 
rance of  simple  logic  and  of  the  pro- 
found effects  wrought  upon  turnover 
experience,  both  by  other  factors 
within  the  workforce  (such  as  shifts 


14 


Berridge:  Labor  Turnover  Indexes 


in  length-of-service  distribution)  and 
by  external  conditions  in  the  labor 
market.  Only  rises  or  falls  of  comp- 
any experience  relative  to  general 
experience  can  jdeld  really  significant 
conclusions. 

Such  a  comparison  becomes  much 
more  effective  when  it  covers  a  fairly 
long  period  and  therefore  justifies 
charting  in  grapliic  form.  Every  com- 
pany placing  at  our  disposal  a  monthly 
record  covering  at  least  one  year  has 
already  been  suppHed  a  comparative 
chart  for  its  quit  rate;  and  we  are 
proceeding  to  do  likewise  for  other 
variables.  One  company's  quit-rate 
experience  covering  the  entire  period 
from  January,  1919,  is  illustrated  in 
figure  6.  A  distinctive  advantage  in 
this  form  of  presentation  is  that  the 
observer  can  readily  study  compara- 
tive differences  in  form  and  in  trend 
between  his  own  and  the  composite 
experience,  despite  any  persistent  tend- 
ency for  one  to  maintain  a  consist- 
ently different  level  from  the  other. 
Such  a  difference  obtains  in  this  illus- 
tration; in  fact,  it  is  so  pronounced 
that  the  two  sets  of  experience  were 
plotted  on  different  scales  in  order  to 
facilitate  comparisons  in  the  general 
trend  and  in  the  form  of  fluctuations. 
In  a  large  number  of  instances,  a 
company  supplied  with  this  graphic 
comparison  has  been  able  to  observe, 
much  more  intelligently  than  had  been 
possible  previously,  the  probable  effect 
of  specified  managerial  policies  intro- 
duced from  time  to  time,  as  well  as  the 
influence  of  general  labor  market  con- 
ditions. In  not  a  few  instances,  how- 
ever, surprise  has  been  expressed  at 
the  extraordinary  resemblance  be- 
tween the  company's  curve  and  the 


composite,  even  when  noteworthy 
changes  in  management  policy  had 
been  introduced,  and  moreover  when 
the  difl'erences  in  level  were  quite 
marked. 

SOME   NEXT   STEPS 

Our  intention  is  by  no  means  to 
confine  attention  to  fluctuations  and 
general  trend  of  comparative  turnover 
experience.  The  other  problem  of 
investigating  reasons  for  differences 
in  level  may  likewise  yield  results  use- 
ful to  management.  A  canvass  is  now 
being  made  to  learn  the  distribution  of 
each  workforce,  by  sex,  by  skill,  and 
by  length  of  ser\dce.  ^his  will  aid 
materially  in  interpreting  individual 
company  records.  It  will  also  be  a 
step  toward  measuring  the  general 
influence  exerted  by  such  factors; 
since  we  hope  to  set  up  separate  in- 
dexes for  groups  of  companies  having 
in  common  given  types  of  skill  dis- 
tribution, of  length-of-service  distri- 
bution, and  so  on. 

Other  next  steps  are  the  construction 
of  a  full  battery  of  turnover  indexes, 
(a)  for  each  leading  industry,  and  (6) 
for  certain  geographical  sections,  sep- 
arately; also  the  extension  back  to 
1919  of  other  barometers  than  the 
quit  rate — first  for  industry  generally, 
and  second  for  the  several  groupings 
suggested  above. 

Much  more  work  is  urgently  needed 
too,  in  connection  with  the  analysis 
and  forecast  of  persistency  curves,  of 
which  we  have  thus  far  constructed 
only  about  four — owing  to  the  lack 
of  suitable  data  among  personnel  rec- 
ords as  now  commonly  kept. 

{Manuscript  received  December  2,  19S6.) 


A  Measure  of  Mechanical  Aptitude 

By  Francis  L.  Keane  and  Johnson  O'Connor,  General  Electric  Company, 

^yest  Lynn,  Massachusetts 

Reliable  measures  of  specific  abilities  and  aptitudes  are  greatly 
needed  in  any  scientific  vocational  guidance  procedure.  The 
authors  here  describe  a  method  of  measuring  mechanical  ap- 
titude by  means  of  a  large  block  jigsawed  into  nine  pieces. 
The  time  required  to  fit  these  pieces  together  is  found  to  be  a 
good  indicator  of  innate  mechanical  aptitude,  and  evidence  is 
shown  of  the  value  of  the  block  in  vocational  guidance  and  in 
selecting  and  placing  factory  workers.  Engineers,  viechanics, 
and  draftsmen  show  considerable  superiority  over  a  group  of 
unselected  workers. 

This  measure  is  at  present  in  successful  use  in  the  West  Lynn 
Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company. 


TWO  college  graduates — room- 
mates the  last  three  years  of 
their  course — entered  the  Hu- 
man Engineering  Laboratory  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  and  seated 
themselves  at  separate  tables.  After 
a  full  explanation  of  the  purpose  in 
founding  the  laboratory,  each  received 
the  large  block  of  wood — pictured 
in  figures  1  and  2 — examined  its 
structure  consisting  of  nine  wiggley 
pieces  fitting  into  one  another;  and 
then,  the  parts  having  been  shuffled, 
attempted  to  reassemble  its  pieces  to 
form  the  original  solid.  One  of  the 
pair  finished  without  apparent  haste, 
almost  nonchalantly,  in  thirty  seconds. 
The  other  struggled  half  an  hour  to 
reach  the  same  result. 

As  chance  seemed  to  play  a  con- 
siderable part  in  the  selection  of  the 
correct  block,  the  men  repeated  the 


solution.  He  who  succeeded  in  half 
a  minute  the  first  trial,  equalled  his 
performance;  the  other,  who  originally 
consumed  half  an  hour,  improved 
slightly,  needing  but  twenty  minutes; 
and,  on  a  third  attempt,  only  twelve; 
still  he  labored  twenty-four  times  as 
long  as  his  companion.  The  ability 
of  the  first  to  reproduce  his  excellent 
performance  thrice,  unchanged,  and 
the  inability  of  the  second  even  to 
approach  this  standard,  demonstrated 
that  luck,  which  might  have  caused 
the  discrepancy  of  the  first  trials, 
played,  if  any,  merely  a  minor  role. 
The  block  exposed  a  substantial  differ- 
ence in  the  two.  On  the  surface, 
both  were  youths  whom  any  employer 
would  consider  himself  fortunate  in 
obtaining,  but  beneath,  they  ex- 
hibited an  astonishing  uniqueness, 
which  education  failed  to  eradicate; 


15 


16 


Keane  and  O'Connor:  Alcclianical  Aptitude 


for  after  the  customary  primary  and 
high  school  courses,  they  had,  for 
four  years,  attended  the  same  engineer- 
ing college.  Something  in  either  the 
bringing-up   or  ancestry  of   the   one 


question.  Are  such  dissimilarities  the 
accumulated  result  of  home  environ- 
ment, early  training  and  formal  edu- 
cation; or  are  they  born  as  integral 
parts  of  the  individual,  as  blue  eyes 


Fig.  1 


Fig.  2 


enabled  him  to  recognize  and  unravel 
the  essential  elements  of  the  jig-sawed 
pieces  sixty  times  moie  rapidly  than 
his  roommate. 

This  re-arouses  the  still  unanswered 


and  brown  hair,  and  handed  from 
father  to  son  in  accordance  with  the 
Mendelian  laws?  The  exact  effects 
of  schooling  jiersistently  elude  un- 
biased judgment.     Possibly  one  of  the 


Keanr;  AND  Q-CoNNOR :;  Mechanical  Aptitude 


1:7 


pair  grasped  every  educational  oppor- 
tunity, while  the  other  shirked  his 
work.  Possibly  the  fast  man  chanced 
upon  gifted  instructors,  born  to  im- 
part knowledge.  To  discover  how 
greatly  education  aids  in  analyzing 
such  simple  situations,  the  two  men 
repeated  the  performance  some  twenty 
times.  The  half -minute  man  showed 
no  improvement  with  practice;  for  the 
manual  manipulation  of  the  parts, 
with  perfect  mental  understanding, 
consumes  thirty  seconds.  The  half- 
hour  man  gradually  lowered  his  time, 
until  he  assembled  as  rapidly  as  his 
companion.  An  observer,  entering 
the  room  after  the  twentieth  lesson, 
could  not  have  distinguished  the  slow 
analyst  from  the  fast.  At  a  glance, 
education,  it  seemed,  had  achieved 
one  of  its  aims,  that  of  overcoming  for 
the  laggard  his  former  inferiority.  To 
test  the  validity  of  the  accomplish- 
ment, the  two  men  undertook  to  solve 
another  block,  identical  in  every 
way  with  the  first,  but  half  its  siz.e. 
The  boy  who  solved  the  original  set 
in  half  a  minute,  succeeded  with  the 
new  in  the  same  length  of  time ;  while 
he  who  first  required  half  an  hour,  but 
had  learned  to  perform  the  task  as 
rapidly  as  the  other,  needed  twenty 
minutes  to  disentangle  the  new  set. 
Education,  through  constant  repeti- 
tion of  the  same  task,  taught  the 
assembly  of  a  particular  set  of  wiggley 
blocks;  but  failed  utterly  to  instill 
an  analytical  conception  of  the  prob- 
lem. This  is  but  a  single  instance 
among  many,  which  indicates  that, 
after  the  fourteenth  or  sixteenth  year, 
when  the  child  applies  to  the  voca- 
tional school  for  specific  training  or 
to  the  world  for  work,  his  capacities 


are  fixed;  and,  if  they  originated  from 
early  environment,  are  now  so  in- 
grained in  his  nature  that  he  might 
equally  well  have  been  born  that  way. 

These  two  men  illustrate  extreme 
cases,  but  ser^^e  to  emphasize  the 
marked  differences  found  in  the  men- 
tal characteristics  of  persons  out- 
wardly alike.  Since  this  experience, 
four  thousand  people  have  assembled 
the  blocks,  under  as  nearly  as  possible 
unchanging  conditions.  The  fastest 
quarter,  the  most  rapid  thou-sand  in 
the  group,  complete  the  task  in  two 
and  three-quarter  minutes  or  less; 
the  slowest  thousand  score  more  than 
six  minutes.  As  no  human  deed  or 
thought  or  action  can  be  judged  in 
itself  either  fast  or  slow  or  good  or 
bad,  the  performance  of  the  half- 
minute  college  boy  did  not  seem  re- 
markable until  contrasted  with  that 
of  his  companion.  When  compared 
with  four  thousand,  he  assumes  his 
true  status,  by  not  only  outstripping 
his  roommate,  but  standing  near  the 
top  of  the  group. 

This  striking  difference  between  in- 
dividuals presents  every  emploj'^er  with 
the  problem  of  placing  the  first  at 
work  demanding  his  special,  analytical 
facility;  and,  equally  important,  of 
locating  the  other  where  his  peculiar 
inability  does  not  limit  his  success  or 
lead  to  costly  mistakes.  The  time- 
worn  method — discussing  with  a  dozen 
successful  men  the  mental  characteris- 
tics needed  in  each  occupation,  and 
advising  the  boy  in  a  fatherly  fashion — 
is  unsatisfactory  and  inadequate. 
The  Human  Engineering  Laboratory 
aims  to  study  the  problem  objectively, 
scientifically,  free  from  personal  bias 
and  ungrounded  opinion. 


THE  PEK80NNEL  JOURNAL,  VOL.   VI,  NO.   1 


18  Keane  and  O'Connor:  Mechanical  Aptitude 


Tim«  (In  minut«s)  o^  MecK  asstmkAu. 
82  8£X?8£XC«£S(S8^»?:cjpgEiiSgJ;SfS!£Snj 


M 


i^ 


.  .  ^'i  ci 5 s"e"8  S s  s  g  £ s  s  8 s  s  a  ?  a  55  » si ; 


^^-^-^ 


T 


Keane  and  O'Connor:  Mechanical  Aptitude 


19 


USES    IN    VOCATIONAL    GUIDANCE     AND 
PLACEMENT 

How  can  science  guide  the  boy  with 
a  gift  for  analyzing  mechanical  puz- 


those  in  which  the  slow  men  prosper, 
despite  their  slowness.  Of  those  who 
finished  within  two  and  three-quarter 
minutes,  many  are  successful  in  orig- 
inal   engineering,    designing  drafting, 


zles?     Of  the  four  thousand   people     scientific  research,  tool  and  die  mak- 


Number  o^   Enqinecrs 

't. 


«H 


Fig.  4.  Distribution  of  Time  of  Block  Assembly  for  44  Engineers 
Grade  A,  41  per  cent  of  engineers;  grade  B,  41  per  cent;  grade  C,  13  per  cent;  grade 
D,  5  per  cent. 


timed,  many  are  mature  holders  of 
responsible  positions.  By  segregating 
these  into  groups  one  may  discover 
the  occupations  in  which  the  rapid 
block    assemblers    succeed    and    also 


ing,  all-round  machining,  machine 
setting-up  and  repairing  or  structural 
iron  and  sheet  metal  work.  Only  an 
occasional  representative  of  these  pro- 
fessions exceeds  six  minutes. 


20 


Keane  and  O'Connor:  Mechanical  Aptitude 


Figure  3  gives  the  distribution  curve 
for  868  unsclected  persons  who  have 
performed  the  block  assembly.  The 
horizontal  scale  across  the  top  indi- 
cates the  number  of  individuals  who 


minute  and  a  quarter;  sixteen  between 
a  minute  and  a  quarter  and  a  minute 
and  a  half;  and  thirty-nine  others 
exceeded  fifteen  minutes,  or  found  the 
solution   impossible.     The    horizontal 


Number  0/    MtcVionics 


■■iiiiliil^^ 


Fig.  5.  Distribution  of  Time  of  Block  Assembly  foh  114  Mechanics 
White  square  represents  failures  on  mechanical  work.     Grade  A,  29  per  cent  of  me- 
chanics; grade  B,  45  per  cent;  grade  C,  21  per  cent;  grade  D,  5  per  cent. 


have  completed  the  block  within  the 
times  indicated  in  the  right  hand 
margin;  thus,  six  individuals  have 
finished  the  block  within  a  minute; 
six  others  between  one  minute  and  a 


lines  divide  the  group  into  four  equal 
parts.  Thus,  one-quarter  grade  A ; 
one-quarter  B ;  another  C,  and  another 
D.  A  similar  chart,  figure  4,  drawn 
for  the  selected  group  composed  of 


Keane  and  O'Connor:  Mechanical  Aptitude 


21 


successful    engineers    indicates    that  men  and  mechanics,  and  in  order  to 

only  two  individuals  or  five  per  cent  find  daily  opportunity  of  employing 

of  the  group  exceed  six  minutes,  while  his  ability  to  the  full,  should  enter  one 

forty-one  per  cent  score  A.  of  these  occupations.     The  half -hour 

Number   o|Droytsmen 


D-^ 


Fig.  6.  Distribution  of  Time  of  Block  Assembly  for  81  Draftsmen 
White  square  represents  failure  on  drafting  work.     Grade  A,  40  per  cent  of  draftsmen; 
;rade  B,  35  per  cent;  grade    C,  15  per  cent;  grade  D,  10  per  cent. 


The  hah-minute  boy  has  at  least 
one  characteristic  in  common  with 
successful  engineers,  designing  drafts- 


boy  differs  from  these  workers  in  that 
he  lacks  something  which  they  ex- 
hibit.    If  mature  engineers  and  me- 


22 


Keane  and  O'Connor:  Mechanical  Aptitude 


chanics  have  acquired  through  experi- 
ence in  their  work  this  grasp  of 
mechanical  relationships,  the  youth, 
expending  half  an  hour  in  deciphering 
the  block,  might  with  safety  embrace 
engineering,  and  in  time  learn  to  solve 
such  situations;  but  he  has  already 
attended  a  technical  college  and  for 
four  years  devoted  himself  unsuccess- 
fully to  the  development  of  engineering 
abilities.  The  chance  of  progressing 
further  in  a  reasonable  period  is  slight. 
At  best  he  would  enter  the  profession 
with  a  decided  handicap.  The  com- 
parison of  a  large  number  of  learning 
curves  shows  that,  with  equal  applica- 
tion and  diligence,  the  fast  man  gains 
relatively  as  rapidly  as  the  slow.  One 
who  starts  in  arrears  improves  enor- 
mously with  practice  as  measured  by 
his  own  standard,  but  persistently 
remains  behind.  The  defective  ana- 
lyst has  little  chance,  therefore,  of 
overtaking  his  superior  in  the  field. 

All  of  the  data  which  can  be  mar- 
shaled indicate  that  the  wiggley  blocks 
measure  an  innate  aptitude  which, 
after  the  fourteenth  year  in  a  child's 
life,  persists  unchanged  by  education. 
Engineers  solve  the  puzzle  rapidly, 
not  through  acquired  learning,  but 
because  all  who  originally  exceeded 
six  minutes  in  the  block  solution 
have  gradually  dropped  the  profession. 
The  observance  of  any  group  of  new 
workers  in  a  locality  where  restlessness 
is  excessive,  and  labor  turnover  con- 
sequently high,  emphasizes  the  truth 
of  this  conclusion.  Three  hundred 
applicants,  whom  a  trained  employer 
chose  as  desirable  candidates  for 
mechanical  occupations,  were  care- 
fully timed  in  the  block  assembly,  and 
then     assigned     mechanical     work. 


Within  six  months,  seventy-four  per 
cent  of  the  D  grade  men  (those  con- 
suming more  than  six  minutes  in  the 
block)  left  their  jobs,  and,  in  compari- 
son, only  thirty-one  per  cent  of  the 
A's  (less  than  two  and  three-quarter 
minutes  assembly  time).  If  this  cur- 
tailed experiment  is  trustworthy  and 
an  accurate  omen  of  the  future,  the 
same  process  should  continue,  and  a 
year,  or  possibly  two,  eliminate  from 
mechanical  lines  most  of  those  who 
score  D,  and  three,  four,  or  five  years 
should  suffice  nearly  to  wipe  out  the 
C's.  One  may  draw  aside  a  little  the 
curtains  of  the  future,  and  see  these 
men  or  their  counterparts  five  years 
hence,  without  waiting  for  the  period 
to  elapse,  as  an  astronomer  predicts 
the  end  of  the  world  in  some  billions 
of  years  before  the  actual  event. 
One  need  but  select  a  representative 
group  of  mechanics  of  five  years  stand- 
ing, to  show  that  but  five  per  cent  of 
the  group  score  D  and  only  twenty- 
one  per  cent  C.  Five  years  wipe  out 
from  the  mechanics  group  a  large 
portion  of  those  who  originally  took 
longer  in  assembling  the  block  than 
four  minutes.  The  youth  who  ex- 
ceeds this  minimum  should  carefully 
avoid,  in  his  plans  for  the  future, 
thought  of  undertaking  any  occupa- 
tion demanding  mechanical  reasoning. 
If  he  exceeds  six  minutes,  the  demands 
of  a  task  for  which  he  is  unsuited 
ehminate  him  within  two  years;  if  he 
consumes  between  four  and  six,  he 
may  persist  in  his  uphill  road  a  little 
longer  but  seldom  with  satisfaction. 

Half  of  the  youths  timed  in  the 
block  construction  exceed  four  min- 
utes. Are  they  then  handicapped  in 
life?     What  of  the  youth  who  required 


Keane  and  O'Connor:  Mechanical  Aptitude 


23 


half  an  hour?  Is  there  no  profession 
he  can  enter  with  prospects  of  a  bril- 
liant future?  Of  successful  account- 
ants a  quarter  grade  D  in  the  same 
problem.  The  ability  to  solve  a 
mechanical  puzzle  seems  not  only  no 
drawback  but  almost  a  help,  for 
more  successful  accountants  fail  on 
the  block  than  succeed.  Therefore 
the  half-hour  boy  can  enter  account- 
ing with  no  handicap  restraining  him. 
The  same  ability  plays  no  part  in 
executive  success  or  inspection  work 
or  any  clerical  occupation. 

What  is  this  ability  which  enables 
its  owners  to  solve  a  mechanical  puz- 
zle in  haK  a  minute,  and  the  lack  of 
which  leads  others  to  consume  half  an 
hour  in  reaching  the  same  result? 
Obviously  not  pure  analysis,  for  exec- 
utives, above  all  groups,  grasp  com- 
plicated situations,  and  yet  fail  to  size 
up  the  relationships  of  the  blocks. 
Accountants  analyze  with  extraordi- 
nary lucidity  the  financial  standing  of 
intricate  mercantile  combinations,  and 
yet  fail  to  reason  out  the  block  prob- 
lem. The  solution  necessitates  a  pe- 
culiar type  of  analysis,  characteristic 
of  engineers  and  mechanics.  The 
ability  measured  by  the  blocks  is 
strictly  mechanical  analysis,  distinct 
from  analysis  in  general  and  is  a  re- 
quirement for  success  in  every  class  of 
work  calling  for  the  solution  of 
mechanical  problems,  in  tool  and  die- 
making,  all-round  machining,  machine 
setting-up  and  repairing,  structural 
iron  and  sheet  metal  work,  designing 
drafting,  scientific  research  work, 
laboratory  experimenting,  and  tech- 
nical, designing  and  construction 
engineering. 


ADMINISTRATION   OF  WORKSAMPLE 
NO.  5 

Place  the  assembled  block  before 
the  examinee  with  one  end  facing 
him.  "This  is  made  of  nine  uiggley 
pieces  like  this  J  ^  Take  one  of  the  top 
corner  blocks  in  the  hand.  "/  am 
going  to  mix  them  up  and  have  you 
put  them  together  again."  Return  the 
top  corner  block  to  its  original  position. 
"Notice  carefully  how  it  is  made.  It  is 
sawed  through  into  three  piles,  with 
three  blocks  in  each."  Separate  the 
blocks  into  three  vertical  piles,  of 
three  blocks  each,  amplifying  the 
description  freely  with  gestures,  so 
that  a  person  who  has  di  i  culty  in 
following  the  language  will  under- 
stand from  the  motions.  Move  the 
hrnd  through  twice,  as  if  cutting  the 
formation  into  the  three  piles.  Touch 
each  pile  as  it  is  mentioned,  also  the 
separate  blocks.  Next  push  the  three 
piles  together,  making  the  block  as 
originally  assembled .  '  'It  is  also  sawed 
through  into  three  layers,  with  three 
blocks  in  each."  Remove  the  top  two 
layers  of  three  each,  and  place  them 
on  the  table  beside  the  bottom  layer, 
a  few  inches  from  it.  Then  lift  the 
top  layer  of  three  from  the  middle 
layer  and  place  it  so  that  the  three 
layers  are  arranged  before  the  exami- 
nee in  the  order,  bottom,  middle,  and 
top.  Separate  the  three  blocks  for  a 
moment  in  the  middle  layer  and  then 
in  the  top.  Reassemble  again  by 
placing  the  middle  layer  on  the 
bottom,  and  then  the  top  layer  above 
these.  "Remember  that  it  is  three 
blocks  high  and  three  blocks  wide.  Now 
I  shall  mix  them  up."     Do  not  hurry 


24 


Keane  and  O'Connor:  Mechanical  Aptitude 


the  explanation;  allow  time  for  each 
step  to  be  followed  and  understood. 
Disassemble  the  block  in  full  view 
of  the  examinee.  Turn  the  two  upper 
corner  blocks  end  for  end,  and  put 
them  on  the  table.  Place  the  center 
block  from  the  top,  and  the  two  side 
blocks  from  the  center  layer  with  the 
first  two,  without  turning  end  for 
end  In  the  same  way,  turn  end  for 
end  and  place  in  the  pile,  the  middle 
block  in  the  center  layer  and  two 
corner  blocks  in  the  bottom  layer. 
The  center  block  in  the  bottom  layer 
put  in  the  pile  without  turning  end 
for  end.  The  blocks  to  be  turned 
are  marked  with  crosses  (X)  on  the 
following  diagram. 


X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

Now  mix  the  blocks  thoroughly 
enough  so  that  the  examinee  cannot 
follow  individual  pieces,  taking  care 
to  turn  none  end  for  end,  and  then 
spread  them  out  once  more,  so  that 
the  blocks  are  arranged  in  a  neat  row, 
parallel  to  one  another,  an  inch  or 
so  apart,  and  with  one  end  of  each 
toward  the  examinee.  They  should 
not  be  piled  on  top  of  one  another  or 
left  in  an  irregular  order.  Leave  a 
free  space  of  approximately  a  foot  in 
front  of  the  blocks  for  the  assembling 
operation.  Arrange  the  test  to  indi- 
cate as  nearly  as  possible  mechanical 
ingenuity  and  to  be  affected  as  little 
as  possible  by  dexterity,  or  any  other 
complicating  characteristic.  Piling 
the  blocks  in  a  heterogeneous   pile, 


without  working  room,  requires  more 
dexterity  in  reassembhng  than  arrang- 
ing the  blocks  neatly  and  pro\-iding 
free  working  space. 

Take  care  not  to  say  a  word  of  any 
kind  during  reassembling.  Refrain- 
ing from  giving  help  through  a  word 
or  motion  of  guidance,  presents  one 
of  the  most  difficult  parts  in  adminis- 
tering the  test. 

Time  the  reassembling  in  minutes 
and  hundredths.  Tell  the  examinee 
whether  he  has  been  fast  or  slow, 
using  judgment  in  doing  so,  not  to 
discourage  him  unduly  if  he  has  done 
poorly.  Having  answered  any  ques- 
tions which  the  examinee  has  to  ask, 
proceed  as  follows:  "Me  take  the 
average  of  three  trials  simply  because  it  is 
a  little  fairer  than  giving  only  one. 
Try  it  again  in  just  the  same  way.'' 
Mix  the  blocks  as  before  with  no  more 
explanation  than  the  above  three 
lines.  Repeat  a  third  time  with  the 
words,  "Try  it  once  more.  This  is 
the  last  time." 

SCORING   OF   WORKSAMPLE   NO.    5 

Enter  separately,  in  minutes  and 
hundredths,  the  times  of  the  three 
trials.  Multiply  the  time  of  the  first 
by  1.0,  the  second  by  1.4,  and  the 
third  by  1.7.  Add  the  results  and 
divide  by  3. 


First     ....   X  1.0  = 

Second  ....    X  1.4  = 

Third     ....    X  1.7  = 

Sum 

P'inal  Score  (Average) 


.SCORE 

Men 

Women 

0  25-2  75 
2  76-4  00 
4  01-6  00 
6  01-up 

0.25-  4  00 
4  01-  6  50 
6  51-10  00 
10  01-up 

A 
B 
C 
D 

{Manuscript  received  November  18,  1926.) 


Whither  Away  and  Why:  Trends  in  Choice 
of  Vocation  in  Detroit 

By  R.  B.  CUNLiFFE,  College  of  the  City  of  Detroit 

Mr.  Cunliffe  has  discovered  several  interesting  trends  in.  choice 
of  careers.  Detroit  students  of  high  average  intelligence  are  now 
choosing  business  as  a  career,  while  law  is  attracting  students  of 
lower  intelligence.  Students  of  foreign  parentage  are  entering 
professions  which  would  be  closed  to  them  in  the  old  country. 
This  brief  article  is  not  only  a  mine  of  information,  but  a  source 
of  promising  clues  for  research  workers. 

Entering  freshmen  of  the  class  of  1929  of  the  College  of  the  City  of 
Detroit  were  given  an  intelligence  test  and  were  asked  to  state  their 
fathers'  occupation  and  their  own  tentative  choice  of  occupation. 

Those  choosing  journalism,  engineering,  and  business  led  in  test 
standing^  while  those  choosing  law,  dentistry,  and  pharmacy  ranked 
lowest.  This  was  found  to  be  true  also  among  those  coming  from 
foreign  language  homes. 

Of  all  the  freshmen,  20.7  per  cent  choose  medicine,  16.9  per  cent 
teaching,  and  12.9  per  cent  business;  while  only  4.0  per  cent  chose 
journalism  and  3.2  per  cent  pharmacy.  Among  freshmen  from  for- 
eign language  homes,  37.8  per  cent  chose  medicine,  15.2  per  cent 
teaching,  and  13.3  per  cent  law;  while  only  2.0  per  cent  chose  journal- 
ism. Students  from  foreign  language  homes  chose  in  higher  relative 
proportion  medicine,  law,  and  pharmacy,  and  in  lower  proportion 
business,  engineering,  dentistry,  and  journalism. 

Of  those  students  who  chose  business  as  a  career,  68.3  per  cent 
chose  their  fathers'  occupation  or  an  associated  one;  of  those  choosing 
engineering,  39.6  per  cent;  law,  6.6  per  cent;  and  teaching  4.8  per 
cent.  The  fathers  of  2.6  per  cent  of  the  students  are  in  unskilled 
trades,  26.2  in  skilled  trades,  49.8  in  business,  and  10.1  in  the  pro- 
fessions. Fathers  in  unskilled  trades  are  found  in  highest  proportion 
among  students  choosing  pharmacy  and  dentistry  and  in  lowest  pro- 
portion among  those  choosing  journahsm  and  engineering;  in  skilled 
trades,  highest — medicine,  engineering,  and  teaching,  lowest — law  and 
journalism;  in  business,  highest — pharmacy,  law,  and  business,  low- 
est— engineering,  dentistry,  and  medicine;  in  the  professions,  highest — 
medicine,  engineering,  and  journalism,  lowest — pharmacy  and  business. 

THE  class  of  1929  of  the  College     the  test  began,  the  examiner  asked 
of    the    City    of    Detroit    was     each  student  to  write  on  the  first  page 
given  the  usual  intelHgence  test     of  his  paper  his  father's  occupation 
by  the   Psychological   Chnic   of   the     and    his    own    tentative    choice    of 
Detroit  Board  of  Education.     Before     occupation.     When  scored,  the  papers 

25 


26 


Cunliffe:  Choice  of  Vocation  in  Detroit 


were  turned  over  to  the  College  for 
analysis. 

The  distribution  of  vocational  in- 
terests was  not  starthng — 61.2  per 
cent  selected  one  of  the  six  following 
occupations:  medicine,  teaching,  den- 
tistry, law,  journalism,  or  pharmacy. 
Another  29.9  per  cent  were  interested 
in  48  different  occupational  fields. 
The  remaining  9  per  cent  were  "un- 
decided" or  did  not  answer. 

With  a  few  exceptions  it  is  apparent 

TABLE  1 

Vocational   interests   of  students   compared 

with  fathers'  vocations 


VOCATIONAL  INTERESTS 
OF  STUDENTS 


Business 

Pharmacy 

Engineering 

Medicine 

The  entire  group 

Law 

Not  included  elsewhere. 

Dentistry 

Journalism 

Teaching 


FATHER  S  VOCATION 


Per 
cent 
Bame 


17.7 
10.0 
6.9 
6.9 
6.3 
6.6 
6.3 
5.4 
4:0 
1.9 


Per 
cent 
asso- 
ciated 


50.6 
0.0 

32.7 
3.1 

11.9 
0.0 
6.3 
3.6 
8.0 
2.9 


Per 
cent 
same 
and 
asso- 
ciated 


68.3 
10.0 
39.6 
10.0 
18.7 

6.6 
12.6 

9.0 
12.0 

4.8 


from  the  figures  presented  in  table  1 
that  students  are  not  primarily  inter- 
ested in  their  fathers'  occupations. 
Business  interest  is  one  exception,  for 
nearly  18  per  cent  of  the  students 
displaying  this  interest  expect  to  enter 
their  fathers'  occupation,  and  the 
fathers  of  50  per  cent  of  this  group  are 
in  occupations  associated  with  or 
similar  to  those  selected  by  their 
sons  and  daughters,  a  total  of  68.3 
per  cent.  Of  the  engineering  interest 
group  10  per  cent  are  selecting  their 


fathers'  occupation.  jMany  sons  of 
die-makers,  tool-makers,  mechanics, 
etc.,  might  be  influenced  towards 
engineering  by  their  fathers.  It  is 
reasonable  to  conclude  that  such  was 
often  the  case,  for  the  fathers  of 
32.7  per  cent  of  these  students  are  in 
such  associated  occupations. 

When  it  is  recalled  that  26.2  per 
cent  of  the  members  of  this  class  are 
the   children   of  men   in   the   skilled 

TABLE  2 
Vocational  interests  of  students  compared  with 
fathers'  types  of  occupation 


VOCATIONAL  INTERESTS 
OF  STUDENTS 


Pharmacy 

Law 

Business 

Journalism 

The  entire  group 

Teaching 

Not  included  elsewhere . 

Engineering 

Dentistry 

Medicine 

Not  given  or  undecided. 


father's  occupation 


Ph 


10.0 

4.13 

2.5 
0.0 


20.0  70.0 

13.0:69.6 

21 

16 


2.626 
2.9'29 
0.025 


0.0 
7.1 
1.6 


5  65.8 
o|64.0 
2|49.8 

5  48.6 
0  47.2 
o'44.8 
0:42.9 


0.0 

8.7 
3.8 
12.0 
10.1 
10.5 
14.6 
12.1 
10.7 


1.8|28 


042.6;i2.4 
630. 4: 12. 5 


trades,  most  of  them  in  the  automotive 
industry,  and  another  49.8  per  cent  in 
business,  the  low  agreement  found  in 
the  other  fields  can  be  understood 
(table  2).  The  pharmacy,  business, 
and  law  students  are  recruited  to  a 
very  large  extent  from  the  business 
group.  Drug  stores  are  usually  re- 
garded as  good  "money-makers"  and 
law  as  an  excellent  preparation  for 
business.     About  a  third  of  the  engi- 


Cunliffe:  Choice  of  Vocation  in  Detroit 


27 


neers  come  from  the  skilled  trade 
group,  a  larger  percentage  than  to 
any  other  occupation,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  medicine,  from  this  group. 

The  journalistic,  engineering,  and 
business  interest  groups  were  much 
superior  in  the  ability  measured  by 
intelligence  tests;  and  the  dentistry, 
law,  and  pharmacy  groups,  much  in- 
ferior (table  3).  It  was  expected  of 
course  that  the  journalism  and  en- 

TABLE  3 
Vocational   interests   compared   with   intel- 
ligence  and   language   spoken   at   home 


B    1 

0  ^    • 

b  <  z 

s  oo  " 

5  E  z 

z 

VOCATIONAL 

OSE  FRC 
GE  HOM 
DIAN*  I 

EST 

0 

H 
OS  iC 

INTERESTS  OF 
STUDENTS 

0%. 

f<  B  ^ 

NT  OF  TH 
LANGUA 
BOVE  MB 
IGENCE  q 

o  ™ 
fa  0 

-zi 

Ui 

a  z  -<  J 

M 

13  ^ 

o  Z 

M 

«so 

< 

«  woe 

z 

«5 

Z 

b 

B< 

a 

e< 

« 

Journalism .  . 

84.0 

1 

100.0 

1 

8.0 

1 

Engineering.. 

66.1 

2 

66.6 

o 

13.4 

4 

Business 

61.3 

3 

42.8 

3 

8.8 

2 

Teaching. . . . 

50.5 

4 

40.0 

5 

14.3 

5 

Medicine .... 

47.6 

5 

40.5 

4 

28.7 

7 

Law 

36.9 
35.5 

6 

7 

23.0 
16.7 

6 

7 

28.3 
10.7 

6 

Dentistry 

3 

Pharmacy .  .  . 

20.0 

8 

14.3 

8 

35.0 

8 

*  Median  of  all  students  from  foreign 
language  homes. 

gineering  groups  would  make  a  good 
showing,  although  possibly  not  such  a 
markedly  superior  one.  The  sur- 
prise comes  in  finding  business  so 
near  the  top. 

It  would  be  reasonable  to  expect 
that  the  intelligence  test  showing 
made  by  each  group  would  be  influ- 
enced by  the  percentage  of  those 
within  the  group  coming  from  homes 
where    some    language    other    than 


EngUsh  is  commonly  spoken.  There 
apparently  has  been  a  certain  amount 
of  this  influence,  as  a  comparison  of 
the  second  and  sixth  columns  in  table 
3  shows.  Moreover,  within  this  group 
journalism,  engineering,  and  business 
again  attract  the  superior  students, 
and  law,  dentistry,  and  pharmacy 
appeal  to  the  inferior. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between 
the  type  of  student  going  into  en- 
gineering and  business  and  that  going 

TABLE  4 
Distribution  of  vocational  interests  of  students 


VOCATIONAL  INTERESTS 
OF  STUDENTS 


Medicine 

Teaching 

Business 

Engineering 

Dentistry 

Law 

Journalism 

Pharmacy 

Not  given  or  undo 
cided 


ALL 
FRESHMEN 


Per 

cent 


Rank 


20.7 
16.9 
12.9 
9.3 
9.0 
7.4 
4.0 
3.2 

16.6 

100.0 


THOSE  COM- 
ING FROM 
FOREIGN 

L.\.NGU.*.GB 
HOMES 


Per 

cent 


37.8 
15.2 
7.2 
6.1 
6.1 
13.3 
2.0 
7.2 

5.1 


100.0 


Rank 
1 

2 
4 
6 

7 
3 
8 
5 


into  law  and  dentistry.  If  these  in- 
terests are  a  substantial  indication  of 
final  choices,  and  the  situation  is 
general  throughout  the  country,  the 
future  will  see  some  striking  changes  in 
the  standing  and  accomplishments  of 
these  occupational  groups.  Once  the 
law  attracted  men  with  a  high  degree 
of  "academic"  intelligence;  business 
had  little  appeal  to  the  man  with  this 
intelKgence.  Apparently  this  condi- 
tion is  to  be  reversed. 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,  VOL.  VI,  NO.  1 


28 


Cunliffe:  Choice  of  Vocation  in  Detroit 


Of  all  freslimen,  50.5  per  cent  were 
interested  in  medicine,  teaching,  and 
business  (table  4).  Nearly  40  per 
cent  of  the  foreign  language  group 
were  interested  in- medicine  alone,  more 
than  the  number  interested  in  the 
next  three  largest  groups  together. 

A  common  idea  among  the  students 
of  the  foreign  language  group  is  that 
entrance  to  business  needs  no  particu- 
lar preparation.  If  a  need  for  prepara- 
tion is  felt  at  all,  these  students  usually 
expect  to  secure  what  they  desire, 
through  the  study  of  law.  Possibly 
medicine  and  law  appeal  because 
through  them  social  status  can  be 
raised;  these  are  occupations  which 
they  could  have  entered  only  after 
overcoming  enormous  obstacles  in  the 
old  country. 


Only  9  per  cent  of  the  entire  group 
were  undecided  or  gave  no  prefer- 
ence; 96.5  per  cent  of  these  came  from 
Enghsh-speaking  homes,  3.5  per  cent 
from  homes  where  some  language  other 
than  Enghsh  was  commonly  spoken. 

CONCLUSIONS 

1.  Business  and  engineering  are 
today  attracting  a  superior  class  of 
students  in  both  the  English  and 
foreign  language  groups. 

2.  The  business  and  engineering 
fields  are  recruiting  largely  from  the 
English-speaking  group,  and  medi- 
cine, law,  and  pharmacy  from  the 
foreign  group. 

(Manuscript  received  November  11, 1926.) 


An  Occupational  Code 

Its  Construction  and  Use  with  Tabulating  Equipment 

By  F.  E.  Baridon,  Western  Electric  Company 

When  tabulating  cards  are  used  for  studying  personnel  data,  how 
does  one  indicate  the  type  of  work  of  each  of  40,000  employees? 
This  becomes  quite  a  problem  when  the  men  are  employed  in  the 
many  jobs  of  office,  shop,  field,  and  warehouse;  when  they  include 
executives  and  laborers  of  all  degrees  of  skill;  when  they  work 
with  different  tools  and  require  different  varieties  of  training. 
Mr.  Baridon  describes  the  solution  of  this  problem  in  the  West- 
ern Electric  Company  by  the  construction  of  a  suitable  numeri- 
cal code. 


THERE  is  no  question  as  to  the 
advantage  of  using  tabulating 
card  records  in  making  either 
periodic  or  special  statistical  studies 
involving  large  numbers  of  definite 
items,  particularly  when  it  is  desirable 
to  combine  these  items  and  obtain 
totals  by  groups.  Some  records  in 
banking,  accounting,  insurance  and 
the  governmental  census  are  quite 
adaptable  to  the  use  of  tabulating 
cards  and  machines.  Many  uses  can 
also  be  found  for  this  equipment  in  the 
personnel  field. 

TABULATED    PERSONNEL   STATISTICS 

Comprehensive  records  and  studies 
covering  such  items  as  employment, 
accidents,  sickness,  tests,  earnings, 
turnover,  and  force  stability  are  basic, 
of  course,  to  the  formulation  of  sound 
personnel  management  policies.  Tab- 
ulating cards  showing  this  sort  of  in- 
formation are  a  great  convenience  in 
making  periodic  summaries  and  are  in- 


valuable for  use  in  special  studies. 
A  comprehensive  card  system  will  often 
eliminate  the  necessity  of  referring  to 
individual  records  in  answering  manj^ 
kinds  of  questionnaires  or  in  preparing 
reports  for  executives.  Conversely, 
outstanding  individual  cases  or  even 
groups  of  cases  can  often  be  readily 
segregated  after  tabulation  and  listing. 

Although  this  article  deals  primarily 
with  the  construction  of  the  new 
Western  Electric  Company  Occupa- 
tional Code,  the  fact  that  its  numerical 
arrangement  is  designed  for  use  with 
tabulating  equipment  is  dependent 
upon  the  existence  in  the  company  of 
several  types  of  cards  covering  person- 
nel subjects.  To  understand  better 
the  importance  of  the  occupational 
code  it  is  first  necessary  to  show  briefly 
the  content  and  value  of  these  cards 
and  the  significance  of  the  occupa- 
tional number  on  them. 

Em'ployment.  In  the  larger  depart- 
ments of  the  Western  Electric  Com- 


29 


30 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


pany  there  is  a  tabulating  card  called 
the  "Employment  Division  Statistical 
Record"  on  which  basic  information  is 
furnished  regarding  the  employees  on 
the  roll  and  those  who  have  left  the 
Company.  From  this  card  studies 
can  be  made  for  all  employees  relative 
to: 

1.  Country  of  birth 

2.  Education 

3.  Sex  and   (at  time  of   hiring)  marital 

status 

4.  EmplojTnent  number 

5.  Department 

6.  Service 

7.  Age 

After  the  employee  has  left,  this 
same  card  can  be  used  to  obtain: 

1.  Length  of  service  at  time  of  leaving 

2.  Reason  for  leaving 

3.  Marital  status 

4.  Number  of  dependents 

5.  Occupation  at  time  of  leaving 

6.  Rate  at  time  of  leaving 

Hiring,  labor  audit,  and  turnover  data 
in  these  departments  can  be  tabulated 
from  this  information. 

Testing.  All  psychological  test 
scores  and  the  necessary  personal  data 
are  now  posted  and  punched  on  tabu- 
lating cards  from  which  studies  can  be 
made  by: 

1.  Sex 

2.  Age 

3.  Education 

4.  Employment  number 

5.  Date  tested 

6.  Type  of  test 

7.  Total  and  test-subdivision  scores 

8.  Department  considered  for 

9.  Occupation  considered  for 

10.  Disposition,   (hired,  rejected,  left) 

11.  Service  at  time  of  leaving 

12.  Subsequent     departmental      ratings 

(3  months,  6  months,  1  year) 


In  order  properly  to  evaluate  the 
various  kinds  of  tests  given  to  different 
types  of  employees,  a  great  many  cor- 
relations are  necessary.  Many  thou- 
sands of  test  score  cards  were  in  the 
files  but  it  was  not  until  these  had  been 
transferred  to  tabulating  cards  that  the 
proper  statistical  studies  could  be 
made  without  a  great  expenditure  of 
time  and  labor. 

Rate  Revisions.  A  large  number  of 
rate  revision  sheets  are  quite  difficult 
to  sunmiarize  but  the  "Rate  Revision 
and  Earnings"  tabulating  card  made 
up  twice  a  year  just  previous  to  the 
rate  revision  periods,  simplifies  this 
difficulty    considerably    by    showing: 

1.  Department 

2.  Clock  number 

3.  Sex 

4.  Age 

5.  Service 

6.  Present  rate  (and  piece  work  earnings 

for  hourly-rated  employees) 

7.  Occupation 

8.  Grade 

9.  Proposed  rate 

Proposed  departmental  or  organiza- 
tion percentage  increases  are  readily 
obtainable  if  the  present  rate  and  pro- 
posed rates  are  tabulated  and  totaled. 
This  card  can  also  serve  as  the  basis  for 
all  current  wage  studies  by  depart- 
ment, age,  sex,  service  and  occupation. 

Employ ee  Census.  At  two  year 
intervals  a  census  is  made  of  all  em- 
ployees for  actuarial  and  force  stability 
purposes,  which  could  hardly  be  done 
without  the  use  of  tabulating  cards. 
These  give : 

1.  Department 

2.  Location 

3.  Sex 

4.  Marital  status 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


31 


5.  Occupation 

6.  Nationality 

7.  Education  (college  or  non-college) 

8.  Age 

9.  Service 

10.  Earnings — salaried       and        hourly- 
rated 
For  hourly-rated 

a.  Standard  hourly-rates 

b.  Piece  work  earnings 

c.  Overtime 

d.  Total 

As  the  smaller  departments  and  the 
units  in  outlying  districts  do  not  have 
their  personnel  records  on  a  tabulating 
card  basis,  this  company-wide  labor 
audit  is  made  independently  of  the 
other  records.  Besides  being  an  audit 
it  serves  as  the  basis  for  forecasting  the 
pension,  death,  accident  and  sickness 
liabihty  under  the  Ctompany  Benefit 
Plan,  and  the  probable  future  costs  of 
vacations,  all  of  which  vary  with  the 
service  and  earnings.  Other  interest- 
ing material  which  changes  with  the 
stability  rate  can  also  be  summarized. 

Accidents  and  Sickness.  Accident 
and  sickness  cases  are  a  fruitful  source 
of  statistical  studies  when  placed  on  a 
tabulating  card  record.  The  Western 
Electric  card  on  "Accident  and  Sick- 
ness Statistics"   covers: 


1. 

Department 

2. 

Clock  number 

3. 

Sex 

4. 

Age 

5. 

Service 

6. 

Occupation 

7. 

Nature  of  illness  or  injury 

8. 

Cause  of  injury 

9. 

Time  occurred 

10. 

Date 

11. 

Date  benefits  began 

12. 

Days  compensated 

13. 

Total  benefit  payments 

Accident  and  sickness  hazards  are 
continually  under  the  surveillance  of 


the  safety  and  medical  units,  but 
periodic  summaries  are  necessary  in 
order  to  locate  bad  trends  that  are  too 
gradual  to  be  noticed  at  any  particular 
time.  The  effects  of  these  hazards 
upon  our  accident  and  sickness  benefits 
also  makes  a  careful  study  of  these 
cases  an  outstanding  problem. 

To  anyone  familiar  with  tabulating 
cards  it  is  quite  evident  that  from  each 
of  the  above  cards,  tabulations  could 
be  made  on  the  basis  of  any  one  of  the 
indicated  factors  or  a  combination  of 
any  two.  On  the  first  card,  for  in- 
stance, studies  can  be  made  of  leaving 
employees  by  reason  and  service,  or  by 
reason  and  age;  on  the  second,  tests  by 
types  and  scores,  or  by  scores  and 
reason  for  leaving;  on  the  third  and 
fourth,  earnings  by  service  or  earnings 
by  type  of  work;  and  the  fifth  gives 
information  on  accidents  and  sickness 
by  cause  and  days  compensated  or 
cause  and  total  benefit  payments,  etc. 
These  are  just  a  few  of  the  combina- 
tions possible. 

NEED    FOR   A   TABULATABLE 
OCCUPATIONAL   CODE 

The  uses  of  an  occupational  code 
are  of  course  not  restricted  to  these 
personnel  statistics,  but  can  be  just  as 
readily  used  in  cost  accounting,  rate 
setting,  overhead  distribution  or  for 
any  other  record  on  which  an  occupa- 
tional code  would  be  a  convenience. 

Our  chief  use  of  the  code  happens  to 
be  in  the  personnel  field  in  studying 
turnover  by  occupations;  the  correla- 
tions on  psychological  tests  by  occupa- 
tions; equitable  rates  of  pay  for  similar 
work  in  various  departments  or  loca- 
tions, wages  paid  for  comparable  work 
on  the  outside  or  accident  and  sickness 


32 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


hazards.  There  has  been  a  long  felt 
need  for  a  code  that  could  be  adapted 
to  meet  these  varying  requirements 
with  the  added  advantage  of  being  able 
to  group  these  occupations  by  types  of 
work,if  so  desired,  with  the  aid  of  tabu- 
lating equipment. 

The  basic  records  from  which  to 
make  these  studies  were  available,  as 
each  of  the  cards  mentioned  above  has 
a  certain  number  of  columns  reserved 
for  occupational  code  numbers.  We 
are  thus  able  to  obtain  valuable  infor- 
mation from  them  for  any  occupation 
or  group  of  occupations  by: 

Employees  leaving 

Employees     tested    (psychologically     or 

for  mechanical  aptitude) 
Employee   rates    of    pay  or   changes    in 

rates 
Accidents  or  sickness 

Furthermore,  each  one  of  these 
studies  can  be  combined  with  any  one 
of  the  other  factors  shown  on  the  cards 
such  as  sex,  age,  service,  education,  de- 
partment, etc.  Thus  for  employees 
leaving,  sorted  by  occupations,  studies 
€an  be  made  by: 

Occupation  and  reason 
Occupation  and  service 
Occupation  and  department 
Occupation  and  sex 

Occupation  and  earnings  and  other  com- 
binations 

When  it  is  considered  that  similar  com- 
binations of  studies  by  occupations  can 
be  made  from  each  of  these  four  cards, 
the  field  opened  to  research  on  the  ba- 
sis of  occupations  alone  is  an  extensive 
one. 

If  it  were  simply  a  matter  of  thirty 
or  forty  jobs,  a  straight  alphabetical 


numerical  code  and  just  a  plain  list  b3' 
jobs  would  suffice,  but  when  over  450 
occupations  are  involved,  as  in  our 
case,  grouping  by  types  and  grades  of 
work  is  quite  necessary  for  real  statis- 
tical studies.  This  grouping  also  has 
the  added  advantage  of  showing  pro- 
motional lines  either  by  types  of 
work  or  by  grades  within  the  same 
type. 

It  was  not  a  question  of  never  hav- 
ing made  studies  of  this  kind  or  of  not 
having  Occupational  Codes,  but  rather 
that  too  many  were  in  use.  There  are 
over  40,000  employees  in  the  company, 
divided  into  Headquarters  and  three 
General  Departments,  one  of  which  is 
responsible  for  the  manufacture  of  our 
products,  another  for  the  installation  of 
the  central  units,  and  a  third  to  furnish 
sales  or  contract  service  to  the  associ- 
ated or  other  companies  who  use  our 
product.  In  other  words,  there  are 
manufacturing,  installation  and  mer- 
chandising units  with  all  the  staff,  re- 
search, development  and  clerical  work 
that  go  with  them. 

These  organizations  being  typically 
distinctive  made  their  own  studies  and 
have  their  own  codes,  but  even  with 
these  codes  an  inter-departmental 
study  was  quite  complicated,  as  each 
code  was  differently  constructed.  The 
simplest  of  the  three  codes  was  a 
straight  alphabetical  numerical  ar- 
rangement. This  arrangement  was 
only  useful  for  abbreviating  job  titles 
on  records  or  for  sorting  out  individual 
jobs.  The  other  two  codes  were  not  so 
voluminous,  but  the  three  added  to- 
gether were  extensive.  By  tying  the 
three  codes  together  the  classifications 
and  numbers  needed  could  be  cut  down 
and  the  numbers  that  were  used  could 


I 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


33 


be  made  to  mean  the  same  thing  in 
each  department. 

The  existence  of  these  codes  was  of 
great  assistance  as  it  meant  that  the 
jobs  had  already  been  analyzed,  de- 
fined and  in  some  cases  graded  by  our 
technical  organizations,  or  that  rate 
ranges  were  fairly  well  established. 
This  eliminated  the  long,  difficult  rou- 
tine of  job  analysis  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  necessary  before  co- 
dification could  have  been  started.  In 
constructing  the  general  code,  the 
steps  were  (1)  to  see  what  others  had 
done  in  the  way  of  coding  and  what  we 
ourselves  had  done  in  previous  at- 
tempts at  this  job;  (2)  to  determine 
what  uses  could  be  made  of  such  a 
code;  (3)  to  decide  on  groupings  which 
could  be  readily  sorted  out  (this  was 
the  hardest  task  of  all);  and  lastly 
(4)  to  eliminate  departmental  differ- 
ences as  much  as  possible  by  com- 
bining, redefining,  and  in  some  cases 
reclassifying  occupations. 

CONSTRUCTION   OF   THE    CODE 

Our  old  codes.  Telephone  Company 
codes,  other  manufacturers'  codes, 
state,  municipal,  government  and 
army  codes,  were  scrutinized  and  re- 
jected because  their  scope  was  too 
broad  in  some  cases  and  too  narrow  in 
others.  Also  their  objectives  were 
quite  different  or  their  arrangement 
did  not  lend  itself  to  construction  for 
tabulation  purposes,  especially  when 
restricted  to  four  place  numbers,  which 
was  the  limit  allowed  on  our  cards. 

It  was  a  case  of  taking  all  our  occu- 
pations and  first  noting  what  general 
classes,  if  any,  appeared  to  predomi- 
nate .     The  first  natural  line  of  cleavage 


divided  all  jobs  into  two  general 
divisions — "Office  and  Technical  Work 
(Principally  Salaried  Occupations)" 
and  "Shop,  Field  and  Warehouse  Work 
(Principally  Hourly-Rated  Occupa- 
tions)." The  code  numbers  assigned 
to  these  were  0000-4999  and  5000-9999 
respectively. 

The  occupations  in  each  division  then 
had  to  be  broken  down  by  types  or 
classes  of  work  which  could  be  sorted 
out  as  groups.  Most  types  of  work, 
however,  run  the  whole  scale  from  very 
low  to  very  high  grade  work,  so  that 
the  next  distinction  that  had  to  be 
made  was  between  grades  of  work 
within  the  same  type  or  class  such  as 
supervisory,  technical,  intermediate,  jim- 
ior,  skilled,  semi-skilled  or  unskilled. 

Contrary  to  the  usual  procedure  of 
dividing  an  occupation  into  grades  by 
rate  ranges  and  making  a  definite  di- 
viding line  between  grades,  we  used 
such  factors  as  the  calibre  of  the  em- 
ployee needed,  general  experience,  ed- 
ucation, and  period  of  training,  where- 
ever  possible  to  place  a  job  as  a  whole 
within  a  grade.  This  meant,  of  course, 
a  great  deal  of  overlapping  between 
marginal  grades  but  nevertheless  a 
definite  comparative  basis  for  succes- 
sive studies.  A  division  by  grades  on 
the  basis  of  rates  paid  in  New  York 
would  mean  nothing  at  one  of  our  dis- 
tributing houses  in  Atlanta  or  New 
Orleans.  There  were  some  instances 
where  the  job  classification  was  too 
broad  to  be  thrown  into  one  grade  but 
these  instances  were  comparatively 
few,  in  fact  only  about  30  of  the  500 
non-supervisory  classifications.  In 
these  cases  the  division  was  made  on 
the  basis  of  a  definite  unit  of  experience 


34 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


or  time.    The  resultant  grouping  by 
grades  was  as  follows: 

Grades  of  Office  and  Technical  Work 

Code 

Executive  and  Supervisory. .  0000-0999 

Senior 1000-1999 

Intermediate 2000-2999 

Junior 3000-3999 

Engineering,    Scientific    and 
Professional 4000-4999 

Grades  of  Shop,  Field  and  Ware- 
house Work 

Code 

Supervisory 5000-5999 

Skilled 6000-6999 

Semi-skilled 7000-7999 

Unskilled 8000-8999 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  a  sort  of  the 
left  hand  column  of  numbers  will  throw 
all  jobs  together  by  grades  in  the  two 
general  divisions.  The  next  sort  then 
should  divide  the  grades  in  each  di- 
vision into  general  types  of  work. 
Here  our  problem  is  quite  different 
from  that  of  other  concerns  but  some 
such  principle  of  grouping  must  be  un- 
dertaken in  any  case.  Practically  any 
occupational  study  gets  into  complica- 
tions if  not  confined  to  the  same  types 
and  grades  of  work.  In  our  organiza- 
tion there  are  in  the  neighborhood  of 
fifty  types  in  each  division.  These 
then  had  to  be  regrouped  to  come  with- 
in the  ten  numbers  available  in  the 
hundreds  column.  The  types  selected 
were: 

Office  and  Technical  Work 

Code 
Accounting,       Auditing      and 

Statistical 100-199 

General  Clerical 200-299 

Distribution 300-399 

Drafting 400-499 

Installation 500-599 

Manufacturing 600-699 

Personnel 700-799 

Miscellaneous 800-899 


Shop,  Field  and  Warehouse  Work 

Code 

Manufacturing  Hand  Work  .  . .  100-199 
Manufacturing  Finishing 

Work 200-299 

Manufacturing  Machine  Work.  300-499 
Manufacturing  Inspecting, 

Gauging  and  Testing 500-599 

Warehousing 600-699 

Installation 700-799 

Plant 800-899 

Miscellaneous 900-999 

After  the  jobs  have  been  separated 
by  General  Divisions,  a  sort  in  the  hun- 
dreds column  will  then  segregate  them 
by  general  type  of  work  regardless  of 
grades  or  departmental  lines,  or  they 
can  be  sorted  by  types  of  work  and 
grades  by  combining  the  hundreds  and 
thousands  columns  as  follows: 

Office  and  Technical  Work 

0200  General  Clerical  Supervisors 

1200  General  Clerical  Seniors 

2200  General  Clerical  Intermediate 

3200  General  Clerical  Juniors 

4200  General  Clerical  Technicians 

Shop,  Field  and  Warehouse  Work 

5800  Plant  Supervisors 

6800  Plant  Skilled 

7800  Plant  Semi-skilled 

8800  Plant  Unskilled 

Jobs  shown  under  Distribution  300- 
399,  Installation  500-599,  and  INIanu- 
facturing  600-699  are  more  or  less 
peculiar  to  these  departments. 

The  tens  column  indicates  the  sub- 
divisions of  these  general  types  men- 
tioned above  and  the  unit  column 
shows  the  job  classification  number. 
Where  a  sub-group  would  undoubtedly 
have  more  jobs  than  the  number  al- 
lowed for  with  the  usual  block  of  ten, 
two  and  sometimes  three  blocks  were 
assigned  to  it  (see  Auditing  150-169 
and    Statistical    170-189).     Table    1 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


35 


gives  samples  of  the  schematic  ar- 
rangement of  numbers  as  taken  from 
the  outhne  at  the  beginning  of  the 
code. 

Thus  it  is  possible  through  the  aid  of 
mechanical  sorting  and  tabulating  to 
make  studies  by  general  divisions,  by 
grades  of  ability  or  skill,  by  types  or 
sub-types  of  work,  by  combination  of 
these,  or  by  individual  jobs.  For  ex- 
ample : 


By  General  Divisions. 

Bv  Grades 

By  Types 


/0000-4999 
\5000-9999 


/lOOO 
\6000 


By  Sub-Types 

By  Grades  and  Types. 


/200 
■\600 

210 

610 


[1200 
•\6600 


By  Grades,  Types  and  Sub-Tj^pes.  .< 


1210 
6610 


By  Occupations. 


/2273 
•17611 


covers  500  non-supervisory  and  280 
supervisory   jobs. 

In  issuing  the  code  it  was  made  up  in 
four    sections    covering: 

1.  Shop,    Field    and    Warehouse    (Non- 

Supervisory  Jobs) 

2.  Office     and     Technical     (Non-Super- 

visory Jobs) 

3.  Shop,   Field  and  Warehouse    (Super- 

visory Jobs) 

4.  Office     and    Technical     (Supervisory 

Jobs) 

Office  and  Technical 
Shop,  Field  and  Warehouse 

All  Seniors 
All  Skilled,  etc. 

All  General  Clerical  (0000-4999) 
All  Warehousing  (5000-9999) 

All   General   Clerical   Methods   and 

Routines  (0000-4999) 
All  Packing  (5000-9999),  etc. 

All  Senior  General  Clerical 
All  Skilled  Warehousing,  etc. 

All  Senior  General  Clerical  Methods 

and  Routine  Jobs 
All  Skilled  Warehouse  Packing  Jobs, 

etc. 

Calculating  Machine  Operator 
Packer,  etc. 


The  need  for  providing  for  a  group- 
ing similar  to  the  above  was  impressed 
upon  the  writer  when,  in  making  a  pre- 
vious study  of  earnings  by  types  of 
work  from  a  straight  numerical  alpha- 
betical code,  it  was  necessary  to  sort 
27,000  cards  into  similar  groups  by 
hand.  This  need  for  grouping  is  im- 
perative in  a  code  of  this  size  which 


These  were  arranged  in  alphabetical 
order  by  classification  with  a  descrip- 
tion or  specification  of  the  duties  for 
each  job.  The  chief  variation  in 
classifications  from  the  old  codes  was 
the  breakdown  of  supervisory  positions 
by  types  of  work  supervised  as  well  as 
rank. 
The  following  are  a  few  samples  of 


36 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


these  classifications  and  job  descrip- 
tions: 

6813  Cement  Finisher — Check  forms, 
sub-base,  supervise  tamping  of 
concrete  base,   check  expansion 


0216  Clerical  Methods  and  Routines 
Department  Chiefs — Department 
chiefs  or  equivalent  in  charge  of 
clerical  methods  and  routines 
work  including  classification  and 
coding. 


TABLE  1 
Office  and  technical  work 


CODE  NUMBERS  BY  GRADES 

Executive 

Senior 

Intermediate 

Junior 

Technical 

Accounting,      Auditing      and 
Statistical 

0100-0199 

1100-1199 

2100-2199 

3100-3199 

4100-4199 

General  Accounting 

Cost  Accounting 

Pavroll                 

0110-0119 
0120-0129 
0130-0139 
0150-0169 
0170-0189 

1110-1119 
1120-1129 
1130-1139 
1150-1169 
1170-1189 

2110-2119 
2120-2129 
2130-2139 
2150-2169 
2170-2189 

3110-3119 
3120-3129 
3130-3139 
3150-3169 
3170-3189 

Auditing 

Statistical 

Shop,  field  and  warehouse  work 


CODE  NUMBERS  BY  GR.\.DES 

Supervisory 

Skilled 

Semi-skilled 

Unskilled 

Manufacturing  Hand  Work.  . . 

5100-5199 

6100-6199 

7100-7199 

8100-8199 

Cable,  Cord  and  Wire 

Ceramic,  Glass  and  Vacuum 
Tube             

5110-5119 

5120-5129 
5130-5139 
5140-5149 
5150-5159 
5160-5169 
5170-5179 
5180-5189 
5190-5199 

6110-6119 

6120-6129 
6130-6139 
6140-6149 
6150-6159 
6160-6169 
6170-6179 
6180-6189 
6190-6199 

7110-7119 

7120-7129 
7130-7139 
7140-7149 
7150-7159 
7160-7169 
7170-7179 
7180-7189 
7190-7199 

8110-8119 
8120-8129 

Forge  and  Foundry 

Metal  and  Apparatus 

Rod  and  Wire  Mill           .... 

8130-8139 
8140-8149 
8150-8159 

Rubber  and  Plastic  ]\Iolding 
Switchboard 

8160-8169 
8170-8179 

Tool  and  Machine  Making.. 
Woodworking 

8180-8189 
8190-8199 

joints,  set  curb  bars,  etc. 
Spread  and  rod  off  "tapping" 
float  and  finish  complete.  Ce- 
ment finish  plaster  retaining 
walls,  etc. 

2122  Cost  Clerk — Compute,  compare, 
check,  maintain  or  investigate 
manufacturing  or  repair  cost 
figures. 

5036  Forge  and  Foundry  Foremen — Fore- 
men or  equivalent  in  charge  of 
hand,  finishing  or  machine  opera- 
tions on  forge  and  foundry  work. 


Several  refinements  were  made  to 
attain  better  some  desired  end  or  more 
uniformity  in  grouping.  A  sample  of 
the  first  was  the  segregation  of  tech- 
nical supervisors  from  other  supervis- 
ors by  assigning  0900-0999  to  this 
class.  In  the  supervisory  grade  the 
unit  digit  indicates  the  rank  in  all 
cases  so  that  it  was  possible  to  obtain 
uniformity  by  assigning  a  rank  to  each 
number.     If  nothing  but  foremen  or 


Baridon:  An  Occupational  Code 


37 


department  chiefs  are  to  be  studied,  a 
sort  in  the  unit  column  will  automati- 
cally divide  the  supervisors  by  rank  re- 
gardless of  type  of  work,  after  the  sort 
by  general  divisions  is  made.  This 
arrangement  was  as  follows: 

Office  and  Technical  Work 

Staff  Executives 0 

Major  Executives 1 

Superintendents 2 

Assistant  Superintendents 3 

Division  Chiefs 4 

Assistant  Division  Chiefs 5 

Department  Chiefs 6 

Assistant  Department  Chiefs 7 

Section  Chiefs 8 

Sub-Section  Chiefs 9 


Sho-p,  Field  and  Warehouse  Work 

General  Foremen 4 

Assistant  General  Foremen 5 

Foremen 6 

Assistant  P^oremen 7 

Section  Chiefs 8 

Sub-Section  Chiefs 9 

One  of  the  chief  advantages  of  this 
code  is  its  flexibihty  and  adaptability  as 
compared  to  most  codes,  especially  the 
alphabetical  numerical  arrangement. 
Enough  unused  numbers  are  available 
to  make  it  possible  to  insert  new  jobs 
or  whole  classes  of  jobs  at  will,  while 
supervisory  classifications  can  be  built 
up  automatically  without  the  need  of  a 
standard  list  of  positions. 

{Manuscript  received  March  14,  1927.) 


A  Study  of  Four  Reference  Report 

Forms 

By  Arthur  W.  Kornhauser,  University  of  Chicago 

The  number  of  letters  written  each  day  to  references  given  by  appli- 
cants for  positions  must  run  into  the  thoiisaiids.  Except  when  com- 
ing from  the  same  organization  probably  no  two  of  these  letters  ask  for 
the  same  information,  or  use  the  same  blanks.  No  one  has  made 
and  published  a  comparative  study  of  the  dependability  of  the  infor- 
mation an  employer  gets  by  asking  for  the  facts  in  different  ivays. 
Jn  view  of  this  blind  adherence  to  century-old  traditional  methods 
and  the  utter  absence  of  evaluation  of  results,  the  personnel  research 
worker  here  finds  plenty  of  opportunities  to  exercise  his  abilities  in 
originating  forms  of  inquiry  and  evaluating  them.  This  area  of 
investigation  is  opened  up  by  Dr.  Kornhauser. 

This  study  attempts  to  determine  the  value  of  the  opinions  given 
about  entering  college  students  by  their  former  teachers,  employers,  and 
friends.  Four  different  forms  for  obtaining  the  reports  were  tried  out 
and  compared. 

The  quantitative  estimates  called  for  in  two  of  the  forms  correlated, 
in  the  case  of  teachers'  and  employers'  references,  from  0.26  to  0.45  with 
scholastic  marks;  estimates  from  friends  correlated  0.00.  As  a  basis  for 
estimating  scholarship,  certain  of  the  forms  were  distinctly  superior  to 
others.  Estimates  based  on  teachers'  reports  were  far  better  than  those 
based  on  recommendations  from  employers  and  friends. 

When  reference  reports  were  included  with  personal  historj^  data  and 
other  information,  judgments  of  the  students'  characteristics  were  con- 
siderably better  than  when  the  reference  material  was  not  used.  The 
results  as  a  whole  suggest  that  reference  reports  may  have  demonstrable 
value  and  that  forms  may  be  developed  that  are  especially  adapted  to 
the  needs  of  particular  situations. 

N  OUR  enthusiasm  over  psycho-  not  a  single  scientific  study  has  been 

logical  tests  and  other  objective  made  of  actual  reference  reports  or 

methods  for  appraising  individu-  letters  of  recommendation.^ 
als,  we  frequently  let  less  novel  and 

more  traditional  procedures  slip  unno-  '  ^he  absence  of  such  studies  is  perhaps 

,  •      J  •    ,      ,,  ,  ^.  ,  not  serious,  though  it  is  surelv  careless  for 

ticed  mto  the  scrap-heap.     Of  no  de-  ,  *u  *  V 

'^         '  us    to    assume    that    some    of    our    newer 

Vice  has  this  been  more  true  than  of     methods  are  "good,"  without  bothering 
reference  reports.     So  far  as  I  know,      to  evaluate  the  alternatives  with  which  the 

38 


I 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forms 


39 


Logically,  however,  I  suppose  we 
shoutd  all  agree  that  we  need  to  apply, 
as  far  as  is  feasible,  the  same  scientific 
technique  used  in  the  study  of  tests,  to 
the  analysis  and  evaluation  of  personal 
history  information,  reference  reports, 
interviews,  rating  scales,  and  like  pro- 
cedures. These  qualitative  and  sub- 
jective methods  may  furnish  real  aid 
in  the  size-up  of  the  individual,  even 
though  they  prove  less  useful  than 
tests.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  one  or  the 
other,  but  of  the  best  practicable  com- 
bination of  available  tools. 

The  present  report  summarizes  the 
results  of  a  little  investigation  of  the 
kind  just  suggested.  In  the  School  of 
Commerce  and  Administration  of  the 

new  method  is  implicitly  compared.  But 
it  is  of  greater  concern  to  find  the  view 
expressed  that  personal  recommendations 
cannot  be  evaluated.  A  very  recent  book  on 
employment  psychology — perhaps  the  best 
thus  far  written — clearly  implies  as  much. 
The  author  summarizes  a  little  evidence 
regarding  the  reliability  (or  unreliability) 
with  which  people  rate  one  another  on 
different  traits,  and  points  out  that  the 
recommendation  involves  in  addition  "the 
bias  or  carelessness  of  the  writer."  Re- 
garding this  last  he  observes  that  it  is  a 
difficulty  "about  which  unfortunately  it  is 
impossible  to  obtain  scientific  evidence." 
(Burtt:  Employment  Psychology,  p.  409.) 
In  precisely  the  same  fashion,  one  might 
maintain  that  intelligence  test  results 
depend  in  part  upon  the  motivation  of  the 
persons  tested,  and  that  this,  too,  is  a 
difficulty  "about  which  unfortunately  it  is 
impossible  to  obtain  scientific  evidence." 
In  neither  instance  is  the  way  closed  to  a 
valid  study  of  just  how  well  the  device  does 
work,  with  all  its  limitations  and  disturbing 
conditions.  A  priori  analysis  of  what  is 
wrong  with  the  pudding,  while  valuable,  is 
not  a  substitute  for  tasting — much  less  an 
argument  against  the  possibility  of  a 
judgment  based  on  tasting. 


University  of  Chicago  we  have  for 
some  years  been  obtaining  statements 
concerning  entering  students,  from 
their  former  teachers,  employers,  and 
friends.  Two  or  three  years  ago,  we 
experimented  a  bit  with  these  reports. 
Four  different  forms  were  tried  out  and 
compared  in  terms  of  their  results. 
They  were  sent  to  a  representative 
sampling  of  all  the  reference  names 
given  by  122  students. 

THE  REFERENCE  REPORT  FORMS 

The  forms  may  be  briefly  described 
as  follows : 

Form  A  calls  for  reports  of  seven  charac- 
ter traits  on  a  graphic  rating  scale ;  space  for 
remarks  is  added.  This  form  had  been  in 
use  in  the  School  of  Commerce  and  Ad- 
ministration. 

Form  B  contains  a  brief  paragraph  asking 
for  "your  estimate  of  this  student"  and 
stating  that  "specific  information  concern- 
ing personal  characteristics  and  abilities 
will  be  especially  helpful;"  a  blank  page 
follows.  This  form  had  also  been  used  in 
the  School  of  Commerce  and  Administra- 
tion. 

Form  C  is  similar  to  Form  B  but  has  a 
much  longer  introductory  statement  with 
mention  of  the  kinds  of  information  de- 
sired. Thus,  "The  University  desires  par- 
ticularly to  know  whether  or  not  the  student 
has  acquired  an  interest  or  interests  of  an 
intellectual  nature  .  .  .  . ;  whether  or  not 
he  has  acquired  capacity  for  study  in- 
dependent of  the  constant  guidance  and 
stimulus  of  the  teacher."  Illustrations 
follow,  including  dramatic  work,  inde- 
pendent reading  in  history,  performance  of 
experiments  of  his  own,  etc.  This  form 
was  the  one  officially  used  by  the  Ex- 
aminer's Office  of  the  University. 

Form  D  asks  for  a  rating  of  intellectual 
interest  as  revealed  in  school  work,  and  for 
specific  evidence  on  which  the  rating  is 
based.  A  second  part  calls  for  similar 
rating  and  evidence  with  respect  to  intel- 
lectual pursuits  other  than  required  school 


40 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forms 


work.  Space  for  additional  comment  is 
added.  This  form  was  one  that  had  been 
proposed  for  University  use  but  had  not 
been  adopted. 

PERCENTAGE  RETURNS  FROM 
THE  FORMS 

Percentage  returns  from  the  several 
forms  were  first  compared.  Forms  A 
and  B  were  sent  to  friends  and  previous 
employers;  forms  A,  C,  and  D  were 
sent  to  high  school  teachers.  Returns 
are  shown  in  table  1. 

Probably  the  only  significant  differ- 
ence indicated  by  the  percentages  is 
the  superiority  in  number  of  returns  of 
the  rating  scale  form  (form  A)  among 
teachers. 

TABLE  1 

Percentage  returns  on  several  reference  report 

forms 


33 

H 

K 

0 

2: 

O 

a 

< 
a 

fa 

a 

H 

Form  A  

66 
63 

55 
61 

88 

Form  B 

Form  C       

62 

Form  D 

66 

VALUE  OF  REFERENCES  IN  PREDICTING 
SCHOLARSHIP 

An  attempt  was  next  made  to  see 
what  value  the  references  might  have 
in  predicting  scholarship.  Correla- 
tions between  the  number  of  friends, 
teachers  and  employers  given  as  refer- 
ences and  the  accomplishment  of  stu- 
dents, were  all  about  zero.  (Number 
of  teachers  and  first  year  marks,  r  = 
0.05;  number  of  friends  and  first  year 
marks,  r  =  —0.11;  number  of  employ- 
ers and  first  year  marks,  r  =  —0.03. 
Each  of  the  coefficients  is  based  on 


about  120  cases.)  The  percentage  of 
returns  from  friends  given  as  references 
correlated  0.14  with  first  year  marks. 
The  quantitative  estimates  of  intelli- 
gence given  on  the  rating  scale  form 
(form  A)  were  also  correlated  with 
marks.  The  results  are:  friends'  esti- 
mates, 0.00;  teachers'  estimates  0.26; 
employers,  0.35.  The  average  of  the 
quantitative  estimates  on  form  D 
(teachers)  correlated  0.45  with  first 
year  marks.  (These  coefficients  are 
based  on  from  30  to  60  cases.)  The 
last  two  or  three  correlation  figures 
suggest  that  the  reference  reports  may 
be  of  some  predictive  value,  though 
the  coefficients  are  distinctly  lower 
that  those  for  test  scores  and  high 
school  records. 

A  special  experiment  was  conducted 
to  determine  how  well  the  several  ref- 
erence forms  would  serve  as  a  basis  for 
estimating  the  students'  scholarship. 
Seven  sets  of  reference  reports  were 
assembled- — two  sets  from  friends  (one 
set  form  A  and  one  set  form  B);  two 
sets  from  employers  (also  forms  A  and 
B);  three  sets  from  teachers  (form.s  A, 
C,  and  D) .  Each  of  the  seven  sets  con- 
tained 24  reference  reports — eight  of 
good  students  (first  year  average  over 
three  grade-points),  eight  of  medium 
students  (average  between  two  and 
three  grade-points),  and  eight  of  poor 
students  (average  below  two  grade- 
points).  Each  set  of  reports  was 
judged  by  six  people  (graduate  stu- 
dents and  advanced  undergraduates). 
The  following  instructions  were  given : 

On  the  basis  of  the  reference  reports 
given  you,  judge  ivhat  success  each  individual 
will  have  as  a  student  in  the  School  of  Com- 
merce and  Administration.  Estimate  how 
well  you  think  he  will  get  along  in  his 
academic  work. 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forms 


41 


Divide  the  set  of  24  reference  reports 
into  three  groups  of  eight  each — one  group 
of  those  above  average,  one  group  of  those 
below  average,  and  a  middle  group  of 
average  students. 

After  the  subject  had  given  his  esti- 
mates on  both  sets  of  reports  from 
employers,  he  was  asked:  "Which  of 
these  two  sets  of  blanks  gives  you  more 
information  about  the  students — their 
abilities,  characteristics,  interests,  and 
the  like?  "  The  subject  was  permitted 
to  re-examine  the  reports  before  an- 
swering this  question.  The  same  pro- 
cedure w^as  followed  for  the  two  sets  of 
reports  from  friends  and  the  three  sets 
from  teachers. 

The  answers  to  these  last  questions 
will  be  reported  first;  and  then  the 
more  detailed  results  of  the  estimates 
themselves.  In  the  case  of  the  ref- 
erence reports  from  employers,  all  six 
subjects  stated  that  the  rating  scale 
form  (form  A)  gave  more  information 
than  the  brief  paragraph  form  (form  B) . 
Similarly  with  the  references  from 
friends,  five  of  the  six  judges  con- 
sidered form  A  more  valuable  than 
form  B.  For  the  teachers'  reports 
likewise,  four  of  the  six  judges  placed 
the  rating  scale  form  highest.  Form 
D  was  clearly  ranked  next  best. 
Form  C,  which  is  the  form  actually  be- 
ing used  in  the  University,  was  thought 
by  all  but  one  judge  to  be  least 
valuable. 

The  merits  of  the  several  reference 
report  forms  as  determined  by  the 
agreement  between  the  estimates 
based  on  each  form  and  the  actual 
scholarship  records,  are  in  general  ac- 
cord with  the  judgments  reported  in 
the  preceding  paragraph.  The  sum- 
mary figures  of  table  2  show  the  rela- 


tionships found.  The  meaning  of  each 
number  in  the  table  is  most  readily  ex- 
plained by  taking  an  example- — say, 

TABLE  2 
Agreement  between  actual  scholastic  stand- 
ing and  estimates  on  scholastic  standing 
based  on  reference  reports 


AVERAGE  DrSPLACE- 

MENT  MEASURED 

IN  THIRDS  OF  THE 

GROUP 

High 
Eight 

Low 
Eight 

Employers: 

Form  A 

0.79 
0.83 

0.85 
0.96 

0.52 
0.62 
0.48 

0  75 

Form  B 

1.04 

Friends: 

Form  A 

0  69 

Form  B 

1.12 

Teachers: 
Form  A 

0  46 

Form  C 

0.79 

Form  D 

0.33 

TABLE  3 
Agreement  between  composite  estimates  and 
individual  estimates  of  scholastic  stand- 
ing based  on  reference  reports 


.4.VER.4GE  DISPL.VCE- 

MENT  MEASURED 

IX  THIRDS  OF  THE 

GROUP 

High 
Eight 

Low 
Eight 

Employers : 

Form  A 

0.15 
0.42 

0.12 
0.44 

0.15 
0.40 
0.19 

0.25 

Form  B           

0  44 

Friends : 

Form  A 

0.17 

Form  B 

0.44 

Teachers: 

Form  A. ." 

0.19 

Form  C 

0.21 

Form  D 

0.08 

the  first  entry  in  the  table.  The  eight 
students  actually  highest  in  scholastic 
marks  were  judged  from  the  employers' 
form  A  blanks  as  follows  (six  judges' 


42 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forms 


estimates  arc  combined,  giving  48 
separate  estimates):  High  24,  Medium 
10,  Low  14.  There  were,  thus,  10  dis- 
placements of  one  class-interval  and 
14  displacements  of  two  class-intervals. 
The  total  displacement  or  error  was, 
then,  38,  and  the  average  displacement 
was  0.79  (38  divided  by  48).  The 
average  displacement  by  a  chance  ar- 
rangement would  be  1.00;  the  nearer 
zero  it  is,  the  better  the  agreement. 

Among  both  employers  and  friends 
the  rating  scale  form  (form  A)  fur- 
nished a  better  basis  of  predicting 
scholarship  than  did  form  B.  For  the 
teachers  form  A  was  superior  to  form 
C,  but  form  D  was  still  more  success- 
ful. The  relative  merits  of  the  refer- 
ence forms  are  the  same  for  the  high 
and  for  the  low  thirds  of  the  group. 
The  estimates  are  more  accurate  for 
the  low  division  than  for  the  high  by 
means  of  form  A  and  form  D,  while  the 
reverse  is  true  when  forms  B  and  C  are 
used.  The  agreement  is  very  much 
better  in  the  case  of  estimates  based 
on  teachers'  reports  than  for  those 
based  on  reports  from  friends  and 
employers. 

Table  3  shows  the  amount  of  agree- 
ment among  the  judgments  which 
were  made  by  means  of  the  several 
reference  forms.  The  method  of  pre- 
senting the  results  is  identical  with 
that  used  in  table  2,  save  that  here  the 
displacements  are  measured  from  the 
standing  of  the  students  by  composite 
estimates  instead  of  by  scholastic 
marks.  It  is  apparent  from  the  table 
that  the  reference  forms  show  the  same 
relative  merits  when  judged  by  the 
reliability  or  consistency  of  the  esti- 
mates based  on  them  as  they  did  in  the 
previous  evaluation.     Form  A  again 


stands  out  as  definitely  superior  to 
forms  B  and  C,  while  form  D  is  again 
a  little  better  than  form  A. 

REFERENCE  REPORTS  IX  RELATION  TO 
OTHER  PERSONAL  DATA 

Another  type  of  inquiry  concerning 
the  reference  reports  aims  to  answer 
the  question :  How  helpful  are  the  ref- 
erences in  conjunction  with  other  per- 
sonal data?  How  much  better  are 
judgments  based  on  ordinary  material 
plus  reference  reports  than  parallel 
estimates  based  on  the  ordinary  ma- 
terial alone?  In  an  attempt  to  deal 
with  this  question,  100  personal  his- 
tory records  were  taken  and  divided 
into  five  sets — each  set  equal  to  the 
others  with  respect  to  the  first  year 
scholastic  achievement  of  the  students 
represented. 

The  method  of  judging  and  the 
qualities  estimated  are  described  in  the 
following  set  of  instructions  which  was 
given  to  each  rater. 

I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  make  some  per- 
sonal estimates  concerning  students  who 
have  entered  the  School  of  Commerce  and 
Administration.  The  estimates  will  be 
made  from  the  application  forms  filled  out 
by  the  students  and  from  other  information 
of  a  similar  nature.  It  is  assumed  that 
j'ou  will  treat  all  the  information  as  strictly 
confidential. 

On  the  basis  of  the  material  you  are  given 
concerning  each  student,  you  are  to  judge 
what  success  the  individual  will  have  as  a 
student  in  the  School  of  Commerce  and 
Administration.  Estimate  how  well  you 
think  he  wuU  get  along  in  his  academic  work. 

Record  your  estimates  by  placing  one  of 
the  marks  +3,  +2,  +1,  0,  -1,  -2,  -3  after 
each  name  on  the  list  given  you,  in  the 
column  headed  'ability  as  a  student.' 

The  marks  have  the  following  meaning: 

+  3  is    for    those    who    will    be    highly 
successful 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forms 


43 


+  2  is  for  those  who   will  be  distinctly  After  you  have  rated  an  individual  in 

above  average  respect  to  his  ability  as  a  student,  proceed 

+  1  is  for  those  who  will  be  slightly  above  to  judge  him  in  each  of  the  three  charac- 

average  teristics — Intelligence,   Industry,   and  Ini- 

0  is  for  those  who  will  be  average  tiative — one  at  a  time. 

TABLE  4 

A  comparison  of  the  predictive  value  of  estimates  based  on  personal  history  blanks  and  estimates 
based  on  personal  history  blanks  plus  reference  reports 


ESTIMATES  FROM  PERSONAL 
HISTORY  BLANKS 

ESTIMATES  FROM  PERSONAI, 

HISTORY  BLANKS 
PLUS  REFERENCE  REPORTS 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 
correlation 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 
correlation 

Estimates  of  "Ability  as  a  Student'" 
and  First  Year  Average  Marks.  .  . 

Estimates  of  "Intelligence"  and  In- 
structors'    Ratings     of     Intelli- 
gence  

-0.15  to  0.31 

-0.20  to  0.48 
-0.41  to  0.46 
-0.30  to  0.47 

0.13 

0.16 
0.11 
0.07 

0.13  to  0.66 

-0.02  to  0.70 

0.16  to  0.57 

-0.37  to  0.46 

0.26 
0.32 

Estimates  of  "Industry"    and   In- 
structors' Ratings  of  Industry — 

Estimates  of  "Initiative"   and  In- 
structors' Ratings  of  Initiative... 

0.35 
0.17 

*  There  are  eleven  coefficients  for  each  of  the  four  qualities.     Each  coefficient  is  calcu- 
lated from  20  cases.     Coefficients  with  no  sign  prefixed  are  positive. 

TABLE  5 

A  comparison  of  the  predictive  vahie  of  estimates  based  on  personal  history  blanks  and  high 

school  records  and  estimates  based  on  similar  data  plus  reference  reports 


ESTIMATES  FROM  PERSONAL 

HISTORY  BLANKS 
AND  HIGH  SCHOOL  RECORDS 

ESTIMATES  FROM  SIMILAR  DATA 
PLUS  REFERENCE  REPORTS 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 
correlation 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 
correlation 

Estimates  of  "Ability  as  a  Student" 

and  First  Year  Average  Marks.  . . 

-0.02  to  0.64 

0.31 

0.06  to  0.67 

0.40 

Estimates  of  "Intelligence"  and  In- 

structors'    Ratings     of     Intelli- 

gence  

0.07  to  0.61 

0.28 

0.10  to  0.65 

0.37 

Estimates   of  "Industry"    and   In- 

structors' Ratings  of  Industry 

-0.22  to  0.76 

0.21 

0.14  to  0.61 

0.39 

Estimates  of  "Initiative"  and  In- 

structors' Ratings  of  Initiative... 

-0.15  to  0.43 

0.19 

-0.21  to  0.59 

0.22 

*See  note  to  table  4. 

—  1  is    for    those    who    will    be    slightly  (A    few    paragraphs     followed,     giving 

below  average  definitions  of  the  traits  and  explicit  instruc- 

—  2  is  for  those  who  will  be  distinctly  tions  for  the  rating.) 

below  average  •         r  •    j            .               i         j 

—  3  is  for  those  who  will  be  unsuccessful  One  series  of  judgments  was  based 

(failures  in  school  work)  on  personal  history  blanks  plus  refer- 


THE   PERSONNEL   JOURNAL,    VOL.    VI,    NO.    1 


44 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forms 


cnce  reports.     The  results  are  to  be  records  and  reference  reports,  with  the 

compared  to  those  for  estimates  from  results  from  the  first  two  of  these  items 

personal  history  blanks  alone.     This  without   the   reference   reports.     The 

will  indicate  how  much  help  the  refer-  five  sets  of  personal  data  were  used  in 

TABLE  6 

Comparison  of  the  reliability  of  estimates  based  on  personal  history  blanks  and  eslimatcs  based 

on  personal  history  blanks  plus  reference  reports 


ESTIM.\TES  FROM  PERSONAL 
HISTORY  BLANKS 

ESTIMATES  FROM  PERSONAL 

HISTORY  BLANKS 
PLUS  REFERENCE  REPORTS 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 

correlation 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 
correlation 

Estimates  of  "Ability  as  a  Student" 
and  First  Year  Average  Marks . . . 

Estimates  of  "Intelligence"  and  In- 
structors'    Ratings     of     Intelli- 
gence  

Estimates   of  "Industry"    and   In- 
structors' Ratings  of  Industry 

Estimates  of  "Initiative"  and  In- 
structors' Ratings  of  Initiative... 

0.56  to  0.82 

0.17  to  0.81 
0.43  to  0.79 
0.10  to  0.83 

0.68 

0.59 
0.65 
0.54 

0.31  to  0.81 

0.15  to  0.82 
0.20  to  0.71 
0.37  to  0.86 

0.65 

0.55 
0.53 
0.55 

*  See  note  to  table  4. 

TABLE  7 

Comparison  of  the  reliability  of  estimates  based  on  personal  history  blanks  and  liigh  school 

records  and  estimates  based  on  similar  data  plus  reference  reports 


ESTIMATES  FROM  PERSONAL 

HISTORY  BLANKS 
AND  HIGH  SCHOOL  RECORDS 

ESTIMATES  FROM  SIMILAR  DATA 
PLUS  REFERENCE  REPORTS 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 
correlation 

Range  of  correla- 
tion coefficients* 

Average 
correlation 

Estimates  of  "Ability  as  a  Student" 
and  First  Year  Average  Marks.  . . 

Estimates  of  "Intelligence"  and  In- 
structors' Ratings  of  Intelli- 
gence  

Estimates  of  "Industry"  and  In- 
structors' Ratings  of  Industry 

Estimates  of  "Initiative"  and  In- 
structors' Ratings  of  Initiative... 

0.51  to  0.89 

0.54  to  0.78 
0.62  to  0.70 
0.14  to  0.74 

0.74 

0.66 
0.66 
0.54 

0.37  to  0.S5 

0.54  to  0.79 
0.28  to  0.67 
0.32  to  0.64 

0.71 

0.67 
0.53 
0.47 

*  See  note  to  table  4. 


ence  reports  give  in  the  forming  of  such  these    comparisons,    each    set    being 

estimates.    A  similar  comparison  was  judged  on  each  of  the  bases  mentioned 

made  of  rating  results  based  on  per-  by  two  (in  some  cases  three)  advanced 

sonal    history    blanks,    high    school  students. 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forms 


45 


The  estimates  of  each  judge  were 
compared  with  independent  measures 
of  the  quaUties.  The  criterion  for 
"abihty  as  a  student"  was  the  record 
of  average  first  year  marks;  for  the 
other  quaHties,  instructors'  rating  scale 
estimates  of  those  same  quaHties  given 
during  the  first  year  were  used. 

Table  4  shows  the  correlations  be- 
tween estimates  from  personal  histories 
and  the  criteria,  as  compared  with  anal- 
ogous correlations  for  estimates  based 
on  personal  histories  plus  reference 
reports. 

Similar  results  are  shown  in  table  5 
where  the  estimates  were  based  on 
high  school  records  in  addition  to  the 
personal  histories  and  reference 
reports. 

The  figures  of  both  table  4  and  table 
5  indicate  that  reference  reports  have 
considerable  value  in  improving  esti- 
mates of  entering  students.  In  every 
case  the  average  correlation  is  higher 
between  estimates  and  the  criteria 
when  reference  reports  were  used  than 
when  they  were  not  used.  Estimates 
of  "industry"  are  helped  more  than 
those  of  the  other  qualities. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  if  we 
add  test  scores  (intelligence  and  read- 
ing tests)  to  the  data  on  which  estimates 
are  based,  the  average  correlations  are 
further  raised  for  "ability  as  a  stu- 
dent" and  for  "intelhgence, "  but  the 
amount  of  increase  is  not  greater  than 
was  that  produced  by  the  inclusion  of 
the  reference  reports.  The  correla- 
tions for  estimates  based  on  all  the 
personal  information,  including  test 
scores,  are:  ability  as  a  student,  0.49; 
intelligence,  0.45;  industry,  0.27  (test 
scores  here  were  actually  misleading) ; 
initiative,  0.26. 


The  effect  on  reliability  of  the  esti- 
mates, due  to  the  inclusion  of  reference 
reports,  has  also  been  investigated. 
Reliability  was  determined  by  correlat- 
ing the  estimates  given  by  each  judge 
with  another  set  of  estimates  by  the 
same  judge  two  weeks  later.  In  gen- 
eral, the  references  produce  no  signifi- 
cant changes  in  reliability.  (There 
is  possibly  a  very  slight  tendency 
for  the  estimates  to  be  a  little  less 
reliable  when  reference  reports  are 
used.)  The  results  are  given  in  tables 
6  and  7. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  main  conclusions  that  can  be 
drawn  from  our  inquiry  concerning  ref- 
erence reports  are  as  follows:  (1)  The 
reference  reports  are  of  demonstrated 
value  as  aids  in  estimating  students' 
qualities.  (2)  They  are  distinctly  less 
valuable  in  predicting  scholastic  ability 
and  intelligence  than  are  tests  and  high 
school  records.  They  are  more  help- 
ful, however,  in  estimating  such  quali- 
ties as  industry  and  initiative.  (3) 
The  value  of  the  reference  reports  was 
found  to  vary  considerably  depending 
on  the  form  employed.  This  fact  sug- 
gests the  possibility  that  much  more 
favorable  results  may  be  obtained  in 
this  direction  through  improved  tech- 
nique. (4)  The  four  forms  which 
were  studied  were  compared  in  several 
ways — ^by  percentage  returns;  by  cor- 
relations with  criteria  of  the  number 
of  references  per  student,  returns  per 
student,  ratings  included  on  the  refer- 
ence blanks,  estimates  based  on  the  re- 
ference forms  alone  and  on  these  forms 
in  combination  with  other  information 
about  the  students,  and  finally  by  judg- 
ments of  several  judges  as  to  which 


46 


Kornhauser:  Reference  Report  Forais 


forms  seemed  to  contain  most  helpful 
material.  These  methods  of  evalua- 
tion as  a  whole  showed  the  rating  scale 
form  (form  A)  was  definitely  better 
among  friends  and  previous  employers 
than  was  an  ordinary  form  (form  B) 
n  which  a  brief  paragraph  asked  for 


opinions  and  information.  Among 
teachers  the  rating  scale  form  was  also 
superior  to  a  more  traditional  form 
(form  C)  while  the  other  form  tried 
(form  D)  gave  still  better  results. 

{Manuscript   received   August    17,    1926) 


Social  Traits  and  Morphologic  Types 

By  Wm.  H.  Sheldon,  University  of  Chicago 

Are  large  men  more  sociable,  more  aggressive,  better  leaders? 
In  the  March  number  of  the  Journal  of  Personnel  Re- 
search Dr.  Sheldon  compared  certain  bodily  measurements  with 
intelligence  test  scores.  In  the  present  article  he  carries  his  in- 
vestigations one  step  further,  comparing  these  same  bodily  meas- 
urements with  ratings  on  social  traits. 

Some  slight  relationship  having  been  found  between  certain  bodily- 
measurements  and  mental  ability,  these  same  measurements  were 
studied  for  possible  relationship  to  social  traits. 

Younger  members  of  fraternities  at  the  University  of  Chicago  were 
rated  by  older  members  on  five  social  traits :  sociability,  perseverance, 
leadership,  aggressiveness,  and  emotional  excitability.  The  ratings 
showed  an  unusually  high  index  of  reliability. 

Three  traits,  aggressiveness,  leadership,  and  sociability,  showed 
rather  consistent  though  very  low  correlations  with  some  of  the  meas- 
urements. On  the  whole,  these  traits  seemed  to  be  related  to  the 
factor  of  general  size  or  bigness.  There  was  also  some  evidence  that 
breadth  or  transverse  measurements  of  the  body  were  somewhat  more 
closely  related  to  the  social  traits  than  were  the  other  measurements 
used. 

Sociability  correlated  negatively  with  both  psychological  test  scores 
and  scholarship  grades.  The  more  intelligent  students  seemed  to  be 
somewhat  below  average  in  popularity.  Ratings  on  leadership,  how- 
ever, correlated  positively  with  scholarship.  While  scholarship  ap- 
peared to  be  something  of  a  handicap  in  general  sociability  and  popu- 
larity, it  was  decidedly  an  asset  in  college  leadership.  The  popular 
men  on  the  campus  were  on  the  whole  below  average  in  scholarship, 
but  the  extremely  popular  (the  best  leaders)  were  likely  to  be  above 
average  in  scholarship. 

SINCE  there  is  some  statistical  relative  activity  of  the  vegetative  sj^s- 

evidence  in  support  of  the  exist-  tem  might  influence  certain  forms  of 

ence   of  a  relationship  between  social  behavior  much  more  markedly 

morphological  index  and  intelligence,  than  these  conditions  could  influence 

it  seems  at  least  possible  that  rela-  general  intelhgence. 

tionships  may  exist  between  this  mor-  There  are  many  common  prejudices 

phological  index  and  other  samphngs  in  support  of  such  a  notion.     Fat  men 

of   behavior.     It   is   conceivable   cer-  are  often  referred  to  as  generally  so- 

tainly   that    bodily   proportions   and  ciable  and  good-natured.     Thin,  alert, 

47 


48 


Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  jMorphologic  Tj'pes 


quick-moving  men  are  sometimes  re- 
garded with  suspicion ;  it  is  frequently 
assumed  that  the  latter  are  selfish, 
aggressive,  or  unsociable.  The  former 
usually  belong  in  the  maerosplanchnic 
classification,  and  the  latter  are  gen- 
erally microsplanchnic.  There  is  fur- 
thermore some  good  cHnical  evidence 
that  certain  general  psychological 
types  are  closely  related  to  distinctive 
types  of  physique.  Kretsclmaer^ 
found  a  close  association  between 
the  asthenic  physique  and  dementia 
praecox  sjanptoms;  also  between  the 
pyknic  physique  and  a  manic-depres- 
sive condition.  Clearly  Kretschmer's 
asthenic  physique  is  almost  identi- 
cal with  the  late  Sante  Naccarati's 
microsplanchnic,  while  the  pyknic 
(fat  man)  is  pretty  sure  to  be  a  macro- 
splanchnic. 

In  order  to  experiment  with  the 
possibility  of  finding  relations  between 
physical  and  social  traits,  a  form  of 
rating  scale  was  adapted  to  the  meas- 
urement of  certain  social  traits  among 
college  students.  Five  traits  were 
selected  which  have  been  widely  used 
in  rating  scales,  and  have  been 
commonly  associated  with  physical 
attributes.  These  were  sociability,  per- 
severance, leadership,  aggressiveness,  and 
emotional  excitability. 

OBTAIXIXG   MEASUREMENTS   OF    SOCIAL 
TRAITS 

The  process  of  obtaining  measure- 
ments of  social  traits  by  a  rating 
scale  method  may  well  be  described 
as  consisting  of  about  five  fairly 
definite  steps:  (1)  Selection  and  de- 

'  Kretschmer,  E.  Physique  and  Char- 
acter.    New  York:  Harcourt  Brace,  1925. 


scription  of  the  traits  to  be  measured; 
(2)  selection  of  the  subjects  to  be 
measured;  (3)  selection  of  raters; 
(4)  getting  the  cooperation  of  these 
raters;  and  (5)  the  process  of  rating, 
i.e.,  of  obtaining  and  recording  ratings. 
1.  The  description  of  the  traits.  In 
this  study  the  following  typed  de- 
scriptions of  the  traits  used  were 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  raters: 

1.  Sociability.  Consider  (this  man's 
general  sociability,  his  good-naturedness 
and  likeableness;  how  easily  and  pleasantly 
he  gets  along  with  people.  Is  he  above  or 
below  the  average  fraternity  man  in  popu- 
larity and  general  likeableness? 

2.  Perseverance.  Consider  his  persever- 
ance and  determination;  his  tenacity  of 
purpose.  Is  he  of  the  sort  who  stick  to  a 
project  with  great  tenaciousness,  or  does 
he  tend  to  "go  from  one  thing  to  another?" 
How  determined  is  he? 

3.  Leadership.  Consider  his  leadership 
ability-.  Does  he  appear  to  dominate  his 
group,  (i.e.,  the  other  freshmen  in  the  fra- 
ternity), and  to  influence  their  thinking  and 
activities?  To  what  extent  does  he  seem  to 
influence  his  associates? 

4.  Aggressiveness.  Consider  his  personal 
aggressiveness.  Does  he  generally  push 
himself  forward,  as  in  fraternity  meetings, 
discussions  and  arguments,  social  gather- 
ings, etc.?  How  self-assertive  and  aggres- 
sive is  he? 

5.  Emotional  excitabiiity.  Consider  his 
emotional  excitabilitj-.  Does  he  get  excited 
easily,  express  himself  violently,  raise  his 
voice,  or  loose  his  temper?  Does  he  get 
angry  and  flushed  and  "wrought  up" 
easily?    How  excitable  is  he? 

2.  Selectio7i  of  subjects.  The  rating 
was  limited  to  freshmen  who  had 
joined  fraternities,  as  each  of  these 
men  was  presumably  well  known  to 
a  definite  group  of  older  students  who 
were  available  as  raters.  More- 
over it  was  possible  to  rate  these  men 
in    convenient    small    groups,    thus 


Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  Morphologic  Types 


49 


making  each   rating   definitely  com- 
parative. 

All  but  three  of  the  fraternities  on 
the  campus  were  included  in  the  ex- 
periment, but  about  40  of  the  freshmen 
who  for  one  reason  or  another  were 
not  at  the  time  well  known  to  their 
respective  fraternities,  were  omitted. 
Ratings  were  obtained  on  155  of  the 
freshmen  whose  morphological  meas- 
urements had  previously  been  taken. 

3.  Selection  of  raters.  At  each  fra- 
ternity five  men  were  selected  as 
raters.  In  choosing  these  men  the 
first  criterion  was  that  they  be  upper- 
classmen  who  knew  the  freshmen; 
second,  that  they  be  if  possible  men 
whom  the  writer  already  knew 
^through  University  personnel  work, 
classroom  work,  student  activities, 
etc.);  third,  that  they  be  entirely 
willing  to  serve  in  the  experiment. 
These  men  were  asked  for  three 
quarters  of  an  hour  of  their  time,  and 
they  retired  with  the  writer  to  some 
room  in  the  fraternity  house,  to  make 
the  ratings. 

4.  Getting  cooperation.  In  order  to 
accomplish  this  purpose,  I  proceeded 
in  much  the  manner  of  introducing 
the  subject  of  rating  scales  to  a  small 
class  of  students.  In  a  fifteen-minute 
talk,  the  general  history,  chief  uses, 
and  most  common  shortcomings  of 
rating  scales  were  explained.  I  es- 
pecially stressed  and  illustrated  the 
so-called  "halo  error,"  and  the  error 
of  avoiding  the  lower  extremes  of 
the  scale  (rating  too  high).  These 
students  were  well  aware  that  a  good 
deal  of  careless  rating  scale  work  had 
been  carried  on.  Many  of  them  had 
been  called  upon  to  make  ratings  with 


very  inadequate  instructions,  and  of- 
ten without  knowledge  of  the  nature 
of  the  problem  involved.  They  had 
to  be  interested  in  rating  scales,  and 
one  way  of  accomplishing  this  was 
to  teach  them  as  much  as  possible 
about  rating  scales  in  the  time 
available. 

All  of  the  students  used  as  raters 
were  at  least  reasonably  cooperative. 
Some  were  really  enthusiastic.  In  one 
fraternity  I  was  unable  to  get  five 
satisfactory  raters;  in  two  it  turned 
out  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  in- 
ternal disagreement  with  regard  to 
freshmen  and  other  matters.  These 
three   fraternities  were   omitted. 

5.  Obtaining  and  recording  ratings. 
Following  the  preliminary  discussion 
of  rating  scales,  each  of  the  five  raters 
was  provided  with  a  card  on  which 
were  printed  the  names  of  the  fresh- 
men to  be  rated.  Opposite  each  name 
was  a  column  of  serial  numbers,  from 
1  to  5;  these  numbers  represented  the 
five  traits.  Trait  number  one  was 
sociabihty;  number  two,  persever- 
ance, etc.  The  card  appeared  as  in 
figure  1.  If  more  than  five  freshmen 
were  to  be  rated,  more  than  one  card 
was  provided.  Next,  each  rater  was 
supplied  with  the  sheet  on  which  was 
printed  the  description  of  traits 
mentioned  above.  At  the  bottom  of 
this  sheet  the  following  instructions 
appeared : 

These  ratings  are  to  be  made  on  a  scale  of 
ten.  If  a  man  is  extremely  high  in  a  par- 
ticular trait,  he  should  be  given  a  rating  of 
nine  or  ten  in  that  trait;  if  he  is  extremely 
low,  a  rating  of  one  or  two.  If  he  is  about 
average,  for  fraternity  men  of  your  acquaint- 
ance, he  should  receive  a  rating  of  about 
five. 


50  Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  ■Morphologic  Types 


As  soon  as  the  instructions  were 
thoroughly  understood,  the  raters 
were  told  to  consider  the  first  trait, 
sociability.  They  read  the  description 
of  that  trait,  and  when  each  rater 
was  sure  that  he  understood  what  was 
meant  by  sociability  as  well  as  he 


except  the  one  being  rated,  and  that 
high  ratings  were  not  necessarily 
favorable  ratings. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  this 
method  was  its  fairly  successful  avoid- 
ance of  the  common  error  of  rating 
indiscriminately    high    or    indiscrimi- 


Rating 

Name 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Name 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Name 

5 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Name 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Name 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Fig.  1.  Rating  Card 


could  understand  it  from  the  descrip- 
tion given,  he  proceeded  to  rate  each 
of  his  freshmen  on  that  trait.  This 
procedure  was  followed  for  each  of 
the  five  traits.  The  raters  were  cau- 
tioned after  rating  each  trait,  to  try 
to  keep  their  average  rating  at  above 
five,  to  forget  about  every  other  trait 


nately  average.  Instructions  were 
thoroughly  standard  for  the  different 
rating  groups,  and  careless  rating 
was  held  at  a  minimum.  One  serious 
error  in  such  ratings  would  evidently 
arise  from  different  inter-fraternity 
standards  of  judgment.  This  was  un- 
avoidable   and    undoubtedly    played 


Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  Morphologic  Types 


51 


some  part  in  the  results.  However  it 
was  corrected  for  statistically  in  the 
following  manner:  A  freshman's  rat- 
ing on  a  given  trait  was  considered  to 
be  the  sum  of  the  five  ratings  given 
him  by  his  fraternity  brothers.  He 
thus  really  had  one  rating,  made  on  a 
basis  of  50.  If  the  average  of  the 
ratings  made  by  his  fraternity  on  that 
trait  exceeded  the  average  for  the 
entire  group  of  raters,  his  rating  was 
lowered  by  the  amount  of  this  devia- 
tion— and,  of  course,  vice  versa.  A 
simple  formula  illustrates  this  correc- 
tion. 

Re  =  R  +  {Mg  -  Mf) 

When  Re    =  corrected  rating 

R     =  original  rating  of  a  man 

by  his  fraternity 
Mf  =  mean  of  the  ratings 
made  by  this  frater- 
nity on  that  trait 
Mg  =  Mean  of  the  ratings  by 
the  whole  group  on 
that  trait 

RELIABILITY    OF   THE   RATINGS 

A  check  on  the  rehability  of  these 
social  ratings  was  attempted,  by  asking 
five  of  the  fraternities  to  re-rate  their 
freshman,  about  a  month  after  the 
original  rating  had  been  made. 
Twenty-eight  freshmen  were  thus  re- 
rated,  and  these  new  ratings  were 
correlated  with  the  original  ratings 
for  each  of  the  traits.  These  correla- 
tions appear  in  table  1. 

The  average  correlation  for  the  5 
traits  is  0.88,  which  is  about  as  high 
as  the  coefficient  of  rehabiUty  for  most 
intelligence  tests. 

The  remainder  of  the  present  sec- 
tion of  this  study  will  be  devoted  to 


correlation  (1)  between  these  social 
ratings  and  morphologic  measure- 
ments; and  (2)  between  the  social 
ratings  and  intelligence  criteria. 

SOCIAL   RATINGS   AND   MORPHOLOGIC 
MEASUREMENTS 

These  correlations  appear  in  table  2. 

There  are  no  high  correlations  in 
the  group.  Of  the  60  correlations, 
twelve  are  above  0.10,  two  are 
above  0.20,  and  eighteen  are  negative. 
Thirty-three  of  the  group  are  lower 
than  their  probable  errors ;  only  three 
are  above  three  times  their  probable 
errors,  and  but  one  is  four  times  its 

TABLE  1 

Reliability  coefficients  of  two  ratings  of  the 

same  men 


ri2 


< 

f 

a 

>< 

<! 

a 

J 

« 

X 

<; 

^ 

a 

^  (- 

C    H 

a 

< 

a 

« 

?    -^ 

o 

« 

a 

a 

0 

T-  " 

cc 

su 

.J 

< 

0.93 

0.89 

0.85 

0.90 

0.82 

N  =  28 


probable  error  (that  between  aggres- 
siveness and  transverse  epigastric 
diameter).  These  are  not  very  high 
correlations.  Yet  a  few  of  them  ap- 
pear to  merit  further  consideration. 

Sociability  shows  a  negative  corre- 
lation (—  0.217)  with  morphological 
index,  and  a  positive  one  with  weight 
(0.131).  This  seems  to  support  to 
some  slight  extent  the  popular  notion 
that  fat  or  "heavy-set"  men  are  more 
sociable  than  thin  men.  Yet  there  is 
no  correlation  higher  than  0.09  be- 
tween sociability  and  any  single  physi- 
cal measurement.  Whatever  relation 
exists  here  certainly  is  not  due  to  the 


52 


Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  jNIorphologic  Types 


propondcrance  of  any  particular  part 
of  the  anatomy  over  the  rest. 

The  trait  Aggressiveness  shows  the 
greatest  number  of  relatively  high 
correlations  with  the  physical  measure- 
ments. Here  five  of  the  twelve  corre- 
lations are  higher  than  0.10.  The 
correlation  of  0.240  between  tliis 
trait  and  transverse  epigastric  diam- 
eter is  the  highest  in  the  entire 
group.  Incidentally  this  same  physi- 
cal trait  shows  a  higher  average  corre- 


slight  evidence  that  macrosplanchnics 
are  more  aggressive  than  micro- 
splanchnics. 

In  the  column  headed  Leadership 
three  correlations  are  over  0.10.  The 
correlation  with  morphologic  index  is 
0.114.  The  large-bodied  fellows  (ma- 
crosplanchnics) are  somewhat  higher 
in  both  sociability  and  leadership, 
apparently  to  about  the  same  degree 
that  they  are  lower  in  scholarship  and 
intelligence.     The  correlation  of  0.145 


TABLE  2 
Correlations  of  morphologic  measurements  and  social  ratings 


Morphologic  Index 

Length  of  lower  extremities 

Length  of  upper  extremities 

Sternum  length 

Xipho-epigastric 

Transverse  thoracic  diameter 

Anterior-posterior  thoracic  diameter.. 

Transverse  epigastric  diameter 

Anterior-posterior  epigastric  diameter 
Transverse  pelvic  diameter 

Height 

Weight 


SOCIA- 

PERSE- 

LEADER- 

AGGRES- 

BILITY 

VERANCE 

SHIP 

SIVENESS 

-0.217 

0.011 

-0.138 

-0.076 

-0.072 

-0.006 

0.005 

0.141 

-0.003 

-0.024 

0.023 

0.031 

0.053 

0.055 

0.145 

0.113 

-0.092 

-0.023 

0.071 

0.003 

0.001 

-0.009 

0.114 

0.168 

-0.008 

-0.025 

0.024 

0.077 

0.029 

-0.111 

0.084 

0.240 

0.005 

-0.046 

0.009 

0.063 

-0.084 

0.036 

0.026 

0.086 

0.002 

-0.065 

0.049 

0.133 

0.131 

0.028 

0.024 

0.073 

EMO- 
TIONAL 
EXCITA- 
BILITY 


-0.004 
0.059 
0.072 

0.034 
0.057 
0.112 
0.039 
0.041 
0.039 
0.029 

0.093 
0.079 


lation  (0.10)  with  all  five  of  the  social 
traits  then  does  any  other  of  the 
measurements.  Aggressiveness  ap- 
pears to  go  with  bigness  of  frame 
rather  than  with  any  special  mor- 
phologic trait.  It  correlates  positively 
with  long  legs  (0.141),  with  a  long 
sternum  (0.113),  with  a  wide  chest 
(0.168),  with  a  wide  "middle"  (0.240), 
with  height  (0.133),  and  with  weight 
(0.073).  Weight  apparently  is  less  a 
factor  here  than  general  bigness  of 
stature.    There    seems    to    be    some 


between  leadership  and  sternum  length 
is  probably  not  entirely  due  to  chance, 
as  this  measurement  correlates  posi- 
tively with  all  five  of  the  social  traits, 
JS'mo^iona/z^?/ correlates  unifonnly  low 
with  almost  all  of  these  measurements. 
There  is  one  coefficient  of  0.112  be- 
tween this  trait  and  transverse  thoracic 
diameter;  the  rest  are  below  0.10.  It 
is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  three 
traits,  leadership,  aggressiveness,  and 
emotionality  show  uniformly  positive 
correlations  with  all  of  the  measure- 


Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  Morphologic  Types 


53 


ments,  and  all  three  correlate  nega- 
tively with  the  morphologic  index. 
Evidently  these  traits  are  associated 
slightly  with  general  bigness  of  body, 
and  also  to  some  slight  extent  with 
compactness,  or  predominance  of  the 
torso  over  the  extremities.  Persever- 
ance shows  almost  the  opposite 
tendency. 

Eight  of  the  twelve  correlations 
between  Perseverance  and  physical 
measurements  are  negative,  but  they 
are  very  low. 

In  order  to  throw  further  light  on 
these    relationships    the    intercorrela- 

TABLE  3 
Inler-correlations  of  social  trails 


5 
< 

0. 

E 
« 

a 
< 

Sociability 

Perseverance 

0.043 

Leadership 

0.471 

0.3.39 

Aggressiveness.. 

0.147 

-0.041 

0.520 

Emotional    ex- 

citability  

-0.011 

-0.225 

0.158 

1 

tions  of  the  five  social  traits  are  given 
in  table  3. 

These  correlations  are  for  the  most 
part  about  as  would  be  expected. 
Sociability  shows  practically  no  rela- 
tionship with  perseverance,  a  rather 
close  relationship  with  leadership,  a 
lower  one  with  aggressiveness,  and 
none  with  emotionality.  Persever- 
ance correlates  0.34  with  leadership, 
and  —0.23  with  emotionality.  Lead- 
ership and  aggressiveness  are  rather 
closely  related,  and  the  former  corre- 
lates 0.16  with  emotionahty.  The 
correlation  of  0.52  between  aggressive- 


ness and  emotionality  is  surprisingly- 
high.  It  remains  0.52  when  leader- 
ship is  partialed  out.  Likewise  the 
leadership-aggressiveness  correlation 
of  0.52  remains  the  same  when  emo- 
tionality is  partialed  out;  but  the 
leadership  emotionality  relationship  of 
0.16  changes  to  —0.15  when  aggress- 
iveness is  partialed  out.  The  halo 
error  is  certainly  not  apparent.  Lead- 
ership is  the  only  trait  which  corre- 
lates positively  with  all  the  others, 
and  none  of  the  high  correlations  of 
the  table  was  significantly  changed  by 
partialing. 

TABLE  4 

Correlations  of  social  traits  and 

Intelligence 


a 

a 

►• 

•> 

Z 

U 

> 

< 

a 

►ad 

H 
2 

(» 

>■ 

to 

O  H 

a 

< 

a 
< 

O 

o  ^ 

0 

bi 

m 

o 

ai 

B. 

hj 

< 

-0.181 
-0.276 

0.298 
0.171 

0.190 
0.060 

0.049 
0.084 

-0  083 

Psychological  test. 

0.009 

SOCIAL   RATINGS    AND   INTELLIGENCE 
CRITERIA 

The  correlations  in  this  group  are 
given  in  table  4. 

The  negative  correlations  between 
intelligence  and  sociability  are  to  be 
expected,  and  are  consistent  with  the 
fact  that  morphologic  index  was  posi- 
tively related  to  the  former  and  nega- 
tively to  the  latter.  It  is  well  known 
that  there  is  some  slight  negative  re- 
lationship between  popularity  and  the 
orthodox  criteria  of  intelligence,  es- 
pecially around  a  fraternity  house. 
A  rather  interesting  point  here  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  negative  rela- 
tionship with  the  test  results  is  dis- 
tinctly higher  than  with  scholarship. 


54 


Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  JMorphologic  Types 


This  contradicts  the  common  student 
rationahzation  to  the  effect  that  the 
"popular"  men  are  just  as  intelHgent 
but  are  less  interested  in  grades. 

The  highest  correlation  in  this  group 
is  between  perseverance  and  grades 
(0.30).  No  doubt  a  knowledge  of  past 
scholarship  performance  entered  into 
these  ratings  to  some  extent,  and  of 
course  the  same  could  be  said  of  the 
positive  relationship  between  per- 
severance and  psychological  test  scores. 

A  somewhat  surprising  correlation 
is  that  between  leadership  and  grades 
(0.19).  Leadership  correlates  posi- 
tively (0.47)  with  sociability  and  posi- 
tively with  scholarship,  although  these 
two  latter  traits  are  negatively  related. 
With  sociability  held  constant,  leader- 
ship and  scholarship  correlate  0.32, 
which  is  pretty  significantly  high. 
This  would  imply  rather  strongly  that, 
while  scholarship  is  something  of  a 
handicap  to  general  sociability  and 
popularity,  it  is  a  decided  asset  in 
college  leadership. 

Aggressiveness  correlates  positively 
with  both  of  the  intelligence  criteria, 
but  the  correlations  are  low.  In  this 
case,  partialing  out  leadership  reduces 
each  of  these  correlations  to  a  point 
well  below  its  probable  error. 

Emotionahty  correlates  —0.08  with 
scholarship,  and  about  zero  with 
psychological  test  scores.  When  per- 
severance is  partialled  out,  the  emo- 
tionality-scholarship correlation  re- 
duces to  —0.018.  There  does  not 
appear  to  be  much  relationship  between 
emotionality  and  intelHgence. 

The  correlation  between  psychologi- 
cal test  scores  and  scholarship,  for 
the  group  of  subjects  used  in  this 
experiment,   was  0.395   (N    =    304). 


This  is  not  far  from  the  average  corre- 
lation between  these  two  traits  as 
reported  at  the  University  of  Chicago 
and  elsewhere. 

SUMMARY 

In  summarizing  the  results  of  this 
section  of  the  study,  the  following 
conclusions  appear  justifiable: 

1.  Certain  relationsliips  were  found 
between  morphologic  measurements 
and  social  traits.  These  are  slight,  as 
measured  by  the  coefficient  or  correla- 
tion, but  they  are  too  high  and  too 
numerous  to  be  due  to  chance. 

2.  These  relationships  are  not  trace- 
able to  the  influence  of  some  one  or 
two  relatively  close  relationships 
spreading  to  intercorrelated  traits. 

3.  The  three  social  traits  which 
correlated  most  closely  with  these 
measurements  were  aggressiveness, 
leadership,  and  sociability,  in  that 
order.  Intercorrelations  and  partial 
correlations  show  that  leadership  is 
closely  related  both  to  sociability  and 
to  aggressiveness,  while  there  is  little 
or  no  relation  between  the  latter  two. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  two  traits 
sociability  and  aggressiveness  were  the 
most  clearly  defined  and  useful  in  this 
study. 

4.  There  is  a  slight  tendency  for  the 
breadth,  or  transverse  diameter  meas- 
urements to  correlate  more  definitely 
with  the  social  traits,  than  do  the  other 
measurements.  On  the  whole,  the 
factor  of  general  size,  or  bigness,  seems 
to  be  related  positively  to  at  least 
sociability,  leadership,  and  aggressive- 
ness. 

5.  Both  psychological  test  scores 
and  scholarship  correlate  negatively 
with  sociability.     The  more  intelligent 


Sheldon:  Social  Traits  and  Morphologic  Types 


55 


students  are  likely  to  be  lower  than 
average  in  popularity.  This  is  more 
strikingly  true  when  intelligence  is 
measured  by  psychological  test  results, 
than  when  measured  by  scholarship. 
6.  There  is,  however,  a  positive  re- 
lationship between  leadership  and 
scholarship.  It  appears  that,  while 
scholarship  is  something  of  a  handi- 


cap in  general  sociabihty  and 
popularity,  it  is  a  decided  asset  in 
college  leadership.  While  the  popular 
man  is  in  general  likely  to  be  below 
average  in  scholarship,  those  who  are 
most  respected  and  copied  (the  most 
extremely  popular)  are  likely  to  be 
above  average. 

{Manuscript  received  December  20,  1926.) 


Personality  Factors  in  Learning 

By  Grace  E.  Bird,  Wwde  Island  College  of  Education 

Why  is  it  that  people  of  equal  intelligence,  placed  under  uniform 
conditions,  may  differ  widely  in  their  capacity  for  learning? 
Personality  factors  must  account  for  a  large  share  of  these  differ- 
ences. Dr.  Bird  describes  what  these  factors  are  and  how  each 
influences  the  power  of  children  to  learn.  Her  remarks  have  a 
message  for  industrial  training,  for  without  douht  the  same  fac- 
tors operate  with  small  modification  among  a  group  of  adult 
learners. 


THIS  investigation  aims  to  deter- 
mine one  of  the  causes  of 
variety  of  achievement  in  the 
learning  of  one  hundred  healthy  young 
children  of  normal  intelligence.  No 
individuals  of  either  superior  or  in- 
ferior mentality  were  included.  The 
chronological  ages  of  the  group  ranged 
from  four  to  six.  The  distribution  of 
mental  ages  approximated  very  closely 
the  normal  frequency  curve.  The 
tests  of  intelligence  employed  were  the 
Stanford-Binet  and  the  Rhode  Island. 
The  type  of  learning  selected  for 
observation  was  one  of  the  stages  in 
mastering  reading  according  to  the 
Henry  Barnard  School  method.  This 
step  consists  in  finger  tracing  of  letters 
and  words  preparatory  to  writing 
them  on  the  blackboard,  the  begin- 
nings of  reading  being  taught  through 
writing. 

Of  the  group  of  one  hundred  children 
observed,  thirty  were  found  with 
habitual  personality  handicaps  that 
interfered  with  learning.  Thirty- 
seven  more  showed  unmistakable  but 


slighter  affective  disturbances.  These 
occasioned  only  temporary  delays,  and 
were  more  easily  reconditioned  than 
fixed  types  of  behavior.  They  are, 
however,  none  the  less  significant  as 
incipient  stumbling  blocks.  A  few 
temper  tantrums,  for  example,  died  a 
natural  death  for  the  need  of  an 
audience.  Pugnacity  became  less 
active  under  the  influence  of  a  peaceful 
environment.  Temporary  shyness  fled 
under  the  encouragement  afforded  by 
a  measure  of  success  and  sulkiness 
resulted  in  no  satisfaction  to  the 
sulker. 

PERSONALITY   HANDICAPS   AMONG 
MEMBERS   OF   THE   GROUP 

In  the  group  of  thirty  with  habitual 
handicaps  two  showed  introversion. 
Each  possessed  an  I.Q.  of  100.  One 
aged  five  and  a  half  moped  for  three 
weeks,  meanwhile  shrinking  from  every 
encouragement  to  break  the  spell. 
Another  aged  six  remained  stolid  and 
uninterested  for  nearly  two  months. 
In  both  cases  an  awakening  was  grad- 


56 


Bird:  Personality  Factors  in  Learning 


57 


ually  accomplished  through  skilful 
motivation,  involving  the  stimulation 
of  curiosity,  the  urge  of  imitation  and 
the  lure  of  play.  During  the  period 
of  inertia  more  incidental  learning  had 
occurred  than  had  been  observed. 
Their  unmistakable  familiarity  with 
letters  and  words  written  by  the  other 
children  indicated  a  considerable 
amount  of  both  attention  and  reten- 
tion throughout  the  entire  period  of 
apparent  introversion. 

Eight  of  the  thirty  children  were 
retarded  by  shyness,  lack  of  self- 
confidence,  dislike  of  scrutiny,  or  fear 
of  the  task.  Often  this  continued  to 
block  effort  even  after  a  measure  of 
success  had  been  attained.  Of  all  the 
handicaps  observed  these  forms  of  fear 
seemed  to  be  the  most  crippling.  The 
process  of  overcoming  such  hesitation 
and  weakness  of  effort  was  found  to  be 
slow  and  uneven. 

Close  on  the  heels  of  this  obstacle 
in  learning  was  excessive  dependence 
upon  conamendation.  Sometimes  this 
was  sought  by  the  child  as  a  means  of 
encouragement  to  further  effort,  but 
oftener  to  satisfy  the  ego.  Of  those 
dependent  individuals  eight  were 
definitely  delayed  in  their  progress 
whenever  praise  was  not  forthcoming. 

Two  children  were  unwilling  and 
apparently  unable  to  accomphsh 
satisfactory  results  under  the  direction 
of  any  instructor  who  did  not  chance 
to  please  their  fancy.  This  caprice  of 
intense  personal  prejudice  could  be 
traced  to  imitation  of  a  similar  tend- 
ency on  the  part  of  their  parents. 
Wise  treatment  of  these  emotionally 
disturbed  children  by  both  the  beloved 
and  the  hated  teachers  reduced  but 
failed  to  ehminate  the  difficulty. 


Four  children  were  possessed  by  a 
desire  to  win  distinction  by  unusual 
behavior.  Even  the  casual  disregard 
of  their  neighbors  did  not  dampen 
their  ardor  appreciably.  Two  were 
seK-appointed  entertainers  with  a  flair 
for  comedy.  The  less  impression  they 
made  the  more  vigorous  were  their 
subsequent  efforts  to  win  appreciation. 
To  them  even  admonition  was  more 
satisfying  than  indifference.  The 
eventual  remedy  was  a  kindled  interest 
in  their  work,  and  the  joy  of  real 
achievement.  The  rooted  tendency 
still  persisted,  however,  whenever  the 
the  stimulus  of  the  more  recent  and 
legitimate  form  of  satisfaction  weak- 
ened. The  other  two  children  sought 
recognition  through  physical  activity. 
The  real  need  in  this  instance  was 
supplied  by  an  opportunity  for  more 
muscular  exercise  to  satisfy  a  super- 
abundance of  physical  energy. 

Two  individuals  were  distinctly 
anti-social.  To  them  teasing,  bully- 
ing, causing  disturbance,  spoiling  the 
work  of  others,  and  disobeying  their 
teachers  proved  more  interesting  than 
either  work  or  normal  play.  Isolation 
of  the  offenders  effected  marked  im- 
provement. As  in  temper  tantrums 
an  audience  seemed  necessary  for  the 
offender's  complete  satisfaction. 

Four  children  showed  vagrant  atten- 
tion through  undue  interest  in  the 
activities  of  others,  a  tendency  to  be 
diverted  by  every  distraction,  a  habit 
of  flitting  from  one  task  to  another,  or 
aimlessly  experimenting  with  the  ma- 
terial, thereby  leaving  behind  a  long 
wake  of  unfinished  work. 

In  many  instances  several  handicaps 
manifested  themselves  in  the  same 
individual.     The  most  conspicuous  in 


58 


Bird:  Personality  Factors  in  Learning 


each  caso,  however,  is  the  one  men- 
tioned. In  this  group  of  sixty-seven 
deviates  the  learning  process  was 
blocked  by  irrelevant  interests  based 
upon  inner  urges  or  drives.  In  every 
instance  home  training  or  its  lack  had 
estabUshed  habits  which  delayed  and 
confused  normal  speed  and  accuracy. 
The  introverts  and  the  shy  were 
produced  by  an  environment  of  re- 
pression, harshness,  uneven  treatment 
or  general  misunderstanding.  The 
^'show-offs"  and  the  easily  diverted 
were  the  product  of  over-indulgence 
including  too  much  attention  from 
adults,  repetition  of  the  child's  re- 
marks, too  many  toys  or  some  other 
form  of  over-stimulation.  The  two 
anti-social  children  lived  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  irritation  and  bickering  at 
home.  Discord  between  parents  was 
the  strongest  contributing  cause  of 
their  children's  defence  attitude. 

COMPARISOX  OF  NORMAL  WITH 
HANDICAPPED   LEARNERS 

Of  the  one  hundred  individuals  of 
the  original  group,  only  about  one 
third  showed  during  the  first  term  of 
school  sufficiently  uniform  concentra- 
tion, independence  and  freedom  from 
affective  disturbances  to  make  steady 
improvement  with  no  more  conspicu- 
ous delays  than  might  be  expected  of 
restless,  active  young  children  just 
entering  a  school  environment.  A  few 
more  than  one  third  possessed  occa- 
sional but  unmistakable  personality 
disturbances  interfering  temporarily 
with  progress.  A  few  less  than  one 
third  were  handicapped  by  firmly- 
rooted  habits  that  diverted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  learner  and  continued  to 
militate  against  both  speed  and  ac- 


curacy. In  this  group  stimulus- 
response  bonds  were  formed  both 
slowly  and  loosely.  Frequent  pla- 
teaus were  noticeable.  Much  relearn- 
ing  was  necessary. 

Norms  of  achievement  were  derived 
from  the  median  accomplishment  of 
the  unhandicapped  third.  After  the 
preliminary  exercise  of  tracing  round 
wooden  models  and  filling  in  the 
space  with  lines  limited  in  length  by 
the  outline  of  the  model,  opportunity 
was  given  to  make  a  first  letter.  After 
each  child  had  learned  to  make  one 
letter,  the  median  number  of  tracings 
necessary  to  learn  to  recognize  and 
write  three  more  letters  legibly  w^as 
found.  In  each  case  these  letters  were 
as  nearly  as  possible  equal  in  difficulty. 
In  the  habitually  handicapped  third, 
regardless  of  the  type  of  handicap,  the 
median  was  double  the  number  of 
trials  required  by  the  first  group,  with 
a  range  of  fifteen  units  wider.  In 
some  cases  practice  on  one  letter 
extended  over  several  days.  After 
tracing  and  writing  letters  for  a  week, 
words  were  attempted.  These  were 
all  phonetic  in  character  and  approxi- 
mately equal  in  difficulty.  The 
median  number  of  trials  for  the  best 
group  was  again  only  half  that  required 
by  the  lower  group  with  a  range  of 
seventeen  units  narrower  than  the 
range  of  the  handicapped. 

These  medians  indicate  a  loss  of 
fifty  per  cent  in  achievement  between 
the  best  and  the  worst  third  of  one 
hundred  children.  The  fear  group 
required  three  times  as  many  trials  as 
the  standard  norm  and  the  introverts 
the  same  number  (as  soon  as  definite 
effort  on  their  part  began).  Later  the 
introverts  made  more  rapid  strides. 


Bird:  Personality  Factors  in  Learning 


59 


The  others  through  spurts  of  success 
prevented  the  median  of  the  large 
group  from  sinking  any  lower.  The 
individuals  with  strong  personal  pre- 
judices excelled  the  standard  under 
happy  conditions.  Otherwise  they 
fell  far  below. 

Because  of  the  difficulty  involved 
in  observing  accurately  the  work  of 
restless  young  children  and  of  testing 
their  intelligence  satisfactorily,  these 
results  do  not  attempt  to  present  fine 
and  exact  measurement.  Rather  they 
serve  to  indicate  tendencies  which 
throw  light  upon  variety  of  achieve- 
ment in  a  normal  group.  The  median 
I.Q.  of  the  handicapped  and  that  of 
the  unhampered  group  was  one  hun- 
dred, indicating  no  lower  standard  of 
inteUigence  for  one  group  than  for  the 
other.  The  problem  therefore  seems 
to  resolve  itself  into  a  matter  of 
mental  hygiene  as  an  influential  factor 
in  learning. 

Though  the  chronological  ages  of 
the  children  ranged  from  four  to  six, 
the  only  significant  differences  ob- 
served in  their  learning  related  to  the 
more  meaningful  appreciation  of  the 
words  learned.  No  appreciable  dis- 
tinction due  to  age  was  noted  in  either 
speed  or  accuracy. 

In  the  last  analysis  the  same  affec- 
tive disturbances  handicapping  these 
children  function  largely  in  the  failure 
of  adults  to  achieve  to  the  extent  of 
their  mental  ability.  The  over-timid, 
the  anti-social,  the  chronic  introvert, 


the  braggart,  the  annoying  egotist, 
the  excessively  sociable  are  all  victims 
of  habits  that  divert  the  attention 
from  the  task  in  hand.  Undoubtedly 
other  personality  hindrances  interfere 
with  learning.  Those  observed  and 
failure  to  progress  at  a  normal  rate, 
however,  bear  a  close  relationship. 

An  environment  presenting  as  early 
as  possible  appropriate  situations  for 
the  development  of  serviceable  mental 
habits  both  at  home  and  at  school 
seems  necessary  not  only  for  social 
adjustment  but  for  advancement  in 
learning.  This  truth  is  particularly 
significant  if  one  accepts  the  prevailing 
behef  that  the  pattern  of  the  future 
individual  is  already  laid  down  by  the 
end  of  the  second  year,  the  period  of 
two  to  four  being  neither  too  late  to 
recondition  undesirable  habits  nor  too 
early  to  establish  desirable  ones. 

This  early  recognition  and  redirec- 
tion of  personality  handicaps  serves  to 
reduce  trial  and  error  in  the  learning 
process  regardless  of  the  type  of  learn- 
ing considered,  since  distraction  of 
attention  by  the  affective  disturbance 
appears  to  be  the  cause  of  lowered 
efficiency.  The  removal  of  these 
stumbling  blocks  should  minimize 
dangerous  elements  of  failure  in  the 
adult  and  ensure  a  greater  measure  of 
life  success  to  many  individuals  whose 
native  intelligence  appears  to  promise 
greater  achievement. 

{Manuscript  received  January  3,  1927.) 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,  VOL.  VI,  NO.   1 


Book  Reviews 


ABILITY 

By   Victoria  Hazlitt.     New  York:  The  Macmillan  Coyyi- 
pany,  1926.     Pp.  U7 

Reviewed  by  Ben  D.  Wood 


In  this  little  book  of  less  than  150  pages 
the  author  manages  to  compress  some  very 
meaty  discussions  of  general  capacities  and 
special  abilities,  including  a  somewhat  radi- 
cal-sounding conclusion  that  "intelligence 
does  not  develop"  and  a  very  lucid  report  of 
an  extensive  experiment  in  the  measurement 
of  the  capacities  of  university  students. 

With  regard  to  the  theory  that  intelli- 
gence does  not  develop,  the  author  remarks 
that  "such  a  view  as  this  is  sure  to  meet 
with  opposition,"  but  perhaps  the  opposi- 
tion will  not  be  as  great  when  the  following 
amplification  which  she  offers  is  considered 
and  "correctly"  interpreted:  "With  regard 
to  the  development  of  intelligence,  then, 
we  may  say  that  no  one  has  succeeded  in 
demonstrating  stages  of  advance  that  can 
not  be  explained  as  due  to  the  gaining  of 
familiarity  with  particular  kinds  of  material. 
In  the  next  two  chapters  this  view  will  be 
developed  in  relation  to  the  theorj'  of  so- 
called  special  abilities."  This  promise  is 
ably  and  interestingly  fulfilled. 


The  book  will  more  than  repay  careful 
study  by  anyone  interested  in  the  develop- 
ment of  means  leading  to  a  more  adequate 
and  more  constructive  type  of  educational 
guidance  than  has  hitherto  been  vouchsafed 
to  students  at  any  stage  of  the  educational 
ladder.  There  is  one  slight  inaccuracy, 
however,  which  we  may  be  sure  the  author 
will  be  glad  to  correct.  On  Pages  83  and 
84  Hazlitt  writes  referring  to  Wood's 
"Measurement  in  Higher  Education" 
(World  Book  Company,  1923),  "One  reads 
with  astonishment  that  this  (the  new)  type 
of  examination  is  now  being  used  through- 
out all  subjects  and  all  grades  of  work  at 
Columbia."  Of  course  one  does  not  read 
this  statement  in  "Measurement  in  Higher 
Education"  because  it  is  not  there.  The 
point  that  the  author  makes  in  this  connec- 
tion, however,  is  a  good  one — namely, 
that  objective  tests  should  not  be  consid- 
ered a  panacea  and  that  their  limitations 
both  as  to  kind  and  grade  of  subject  matter 
ought  to  be  recognized. 


THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT  IN  THE  SHOE  INDUSTRY  WITH  SPECIAL 
REFERENCE  TO  PHILADELPHIA 

By  Augusta  Emile  Galster.     New  York:  Ronald  Press, 
1924.     PP'  237 

Reviewed  by  W.  H.  Stead 


This  little  book  gives  us  a  logical  and 
interesting  account  of  the  development  of 
the  American  Labor  Movement,  as  typified 
by   the   experience   of   a   single    industry. 


The  book  follows  the  usual  organization  of 
an  historical  treatise  for  the  most  part, 
opening  with  a  statement  of  the  various 
industrial  stages  through  which  the  shoe 


60 


Book  Reviews 


61 


industry  has  passed  in  this  country,  i.e., 
household,  handicraft,  domestic  and  fac- 
tory; and  showing  how  the  changes  in 
employer-employee  relationships  incident 
to  these  stages  resulted  in  the  organization 
of  local  and  national  unions. 

Thus  we  find  the  earliest  local  organiza- 
tion in  the  shoe  industry,  the  "Federal 
Society  of  Journeyman  Cordwainers"  of 
Philadelphia,  springing  up  at  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century  when  the  industry 
was  passing  into  the  "whole-sale  order" 
stage  of  the  domestic  system  with  its  re- 
sultant conflict  over  wages  due  to  narrowed 
profit  margins  for  the  merchant-capita- 
list. 

With  the  coming  of  the  "wholesale- 
speculative"  stage  of  the  domestic  system, 
carrying  with  it  a  further  extension  of  the 
market  and  the  introduction  of  the  com- 
petition of  the  unskilled,  a  new  type  of 
organization  appeared  in  the  "Trades 
Union"  in  which  the  cordwainers  joined 
with  the  tailors,  bookbinders,  and  other 
crafts  in  common  defense  against  the  new 
competitor.  By  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  factory  system  began 
to  put  in  its  appearance  in  the  shoe  indus- 
try, heralded  by  the  introduction  of  power- 
pegging  and  sewing  machinery  in  the  cen- 
tral workshops.  During  this  transition 
period  a  national  organization  of  shoe- 
makers, called  the  Knights  of  St.  Crispin, 
appeared  as  a  protest  against  the  abuse  of 
machinery,  and  "flourished  beyond  any- 
thing theretofore  known  in  the  history  of 
American  organized  labor." 

The  panic  of  1873  put  an  end  to  the 
loosely  organized  Knights  of  St.  Crispin, 
and  ushered  in  a  prolonged  period  of  de- 
pression notable  for  the  rise  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor  with  its  "class  conscious"  pro- 
gram and  its  effort  to  obliterate  "craft" 
lines.  By  the  period  of  the  late  80's, 
those  workers  who  had  experienced  previous 
craft  unionism,  such  as  had  been  true  of 
the  shoe  workers,  became  restive  under  the 
ineffective  regime  of  the  Knights  of  Labor. 
A  number  of  local  assemblies  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor,  composed  largely  of  shoe  workers, 
responded  to  the  call  of  Master  Workman 
Skeffington  to  surrender  their  Knights  of 
Labor  charters,   and  in  June  of  1889  or- 


ganized the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  In- 
ternational Union. 

The  last  half  of  the  book  is  given  over 
almost  entirely  to  the  history,  structure, 
and  policies  of  this  union  which  has  en- 
joyed the  dominant  position  in  the  indus- 
try since  the  time  of  its  organization.  The 
union  early  affiliated  with  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  and  has  been  through- 
out its  history  a  typically  conservative 
organization,  relying  upon  arbitration 
rather  than  upon  the  strike  method  to  gain 
its  ends. 

The  high  point  in  recent  history  was  the 
secession  of  a  sizable  minority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  union  following  an  election 
dispute  in  1907,  and  the  subsequent  forma- 
tion of  an  important  independent  union  in 
the  "United  Shoe  Workers  of  America." 
This  organization,  somewhat  radical  in 
tendency  and  remaining  outside  the  fold 
of  A.  F.  of  L.  unions,  has  enjoyed  a  steady 
growth  since  its  founding  in  1909.  At 
the  present  time  it  seems  to  control  the 
situation  in  a  few  important  centers  of  the 
industry,  notably  Lynn,  Mass.,  St.  Louis, 
and  Philadelphia,  although  the  Boot  and 
Shoe  Workers'  Union  is  still  the  "big" 
union  in  the  industry.  Within  the  last 
two  or  three  years  the  United  Shoe  Workers 
have  been  dickering  with  other  smaller 
independent  unions  looking  toward  amal- 
gamation, and  it  is  quite  probable  that  a 
more  formidable  "independent"  union 
may  result,  to  threaten  the  position  of  the 
old  A.  F.  of  L.  organization. 

Throughout  the  discussion  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  is  used  as  a  laboratory  for 
local  history  of  the  industry.  This  seems 
an  excellent  choice  for  the  earlier  stages  of 
the  industry,  but  one  rather  wishes  that 
the  local  history  of  such  a  center  as  Lynn 
were  available  for  the  light  it  might  throw 
on  the  more  recent  developments  in  the 
history  of  unionism  in  the  shoe  industry. 
Perhaps  the  statistics  setting  forth  the 
growth  and  strength  of  the  various  organ- 
izations in  the  field  would  have  been 
strengthened  had  the  figures  for  union  mem- 
bership been  compared  with  figures  for 
the  total  number  of  workers  in  the  industry 
in  each  period  considered.  There  is  also 
a  feeling  that  a  little  more  evidence  of  the 


02 


l\o()k   Reviews 


olTi'ctivoiuvss  or  inolTcctivonoss  of  tlu>  union 
progrjiius  woiilil  liavo  1)o«mi  iv  valiml)lo  suj)- 
plonuMit.  to  (ho  vory  clear  stjitonuMit  of  those 
uiins  and  proji;rmns  given  by  the  author. 
One  wonders  wliether  the  employers  in  the 
shoe  industry  liave  been  doing  anything  in 
the  way  of  working  out  a  labor  program  in 
these  last  few  years. 

There  ran  be  no  doubt  (hat  tliis  ty|)e  of 
approacii  to  the  stvuly  of  the  lalior  move- 


ment is  greatly  needed,  and  the  author  has 
rendered  a  real  service  in  giving  us  a  clear 
evolutionary  account  of  the  situation  in 
this  particular  imlustry.  The  reliance  on 
documentary  materials  drawn  largely  from 
tlu-  industry  itself  is  commendable,  and 
one  has  the  feeling  that  he  is  dealing  with 
the  facts  of  the  situation  and  not  with  a 
mere  retrospective  generalization. 


Tin:  lU  KIOAU  OF  EDUCATIONAL  COUNSEL  OF  THE  LA  SALLE- 
PEllU  TOWNSHIP  HIGH  SCHOOL 

liy   Khna    01  son.     La   Sallc,    III.:    Board   of  Educalion, 

IvKVlKWKD    HY    I^ION    D.   WoOD 


In  this  monograph,  Superintendent  Mc- 
Cormack  and  Director  Olson  present  a 
contribution  for  which  they  tloserve  the 
hearty  thanks  of  the  whole  teaching  pro- 
fession, but  particularly  of  those  members 
of  the  profession  who  are  especially  inter- 
ested in  educatiotial  persoiuicl  work.  In  a 
nine-page  introduction,  Superintendent  Mc- 
C^-ormack  manifests  his  wide  and  proven 
Bcliolarship  in  a  way  whicli  is  not  only  par- 
ticularly instructive  to  I  lie  educational 
Counsel  but  will  also  prove  interesting  ami 
instructive  to  the  general  reader.  The  10 
pages  contributctl  by  Director  (Mson  con- 


stitute a  summary  of  the  results  of  three 
years  of  intensive  effort  to  bring  peace, 
happiness  and  human  efliciency  to  ()00 
high-school  adolescents  in  the  La  Salle- 
Peru  Township  High  School  and  in  the 
La  Salle-Peru-Oglesby  Junior  College. 

Because  of  the  clear  presentation  of 
fundamental  principles,  and  because  of  the 
ult  imat  e  dependence  of  collegiate  personnel 
work  on  educational  and  personal  guidance 
in  the  lower  schools,  this  monograph  should 
find  a  place  on  the  "active"  book  shelf  of 
every  college  administrator  ii\  the  country. 


New  Books 


AcKKUMAN,  S.  H.,  Ed.  In,liisln\il  Life 
Insurnncc.  2nd  edition.  New  York: 
Spectator  Company,  P.)2().    'JOl  p.    S3.o0. 

Ainrriran  Labor  Yvnr  Book,  /Pfr.  New 
York:  Rand  Book   Store,    1027.     2r)t)    p. 

si.r.o. 

B.vKKu,  A.  E.  Pnychoaudli/i^iit  E.vplainctl 
(uui  Cri'lidzcd.  New  York:  The  iMac- 
millan  Company,  1920.     1S3  p.    SI. 00. 

Bl.\ck,  Joun  D.  Inlroiliiction  lo  I'rotiuc- 
tion  Kfonoinics.  New  York:  Henry  Holt 
and  Company,  1020.    901  p.    SJ.oO. 

Bu.vDi.Kv,  H.,  .\NM)  Bu.\ni.KY,  E.  Stiulics 
on  the  Ehutcnl.'i  of  Lnhor  Lnw.  Houston, 
Texas:  Minor  Printing  Company,  P.)20. 
134  p. 


BuinuKs,  ,T.  \\ .,   .wn  Buiih;ks,  K.  ^L    B. 

A    I'.-ii/clioIotiical   Sttiti;/   of  Jurcnilc   De- 

liiiquiiicii  hi/  Group  Method.-^.     Worcester, 

Mass.:  Clark  University,  1920.    S2.00. 
C.\LnouN,    A.    W.     The    Worker   Looks   al 

(torcrniunU.    New      York:  International 

Publishers,  1927.    170  p.    $1.00. 
Coi.K,  Ceohoe  D.  H.    .1  Shorl  History  of 

the  liritish   Working  Class.    New  York; 

The  IMacmillan  Company,   1927.    211  p. 

S4.50. 
Coi.i.iEU,    V.    M.     }[arrio(]c    and    Careers. 

New     York:  C^hannel     Bookshop,     1020. 

121  p.    SI. 00. 
Cornell,  Wm.  B.,  and  M.vcDonald,   John 

n.    Fundawcntals   of   Business    Organi- 


Book  Reviews 


63 


zalion  and  j\Ianagemenl.  New  York: 
American  Book  Company,  1927.  479  p. 
$1.72. 

Cox,  Jacob  D.,  Jr.  The  Economic  Basis  of 
Fair  Wages.  New  York:  Ronald  Press, 
1926.     148  p.    $3.50. 

Feather,  William.  The  Ideals  and  Follies 
of  Business.  Cleveland:  Wm.  Feather 
Oompany,  1927.     199  p.    82.00. 

Hardy,  Chas.  O.,  and  Cox,  G.  V.  Fore- 
casting Business  Conditions.  New  York: 
The  Macmillan  Company,  1926.  444  p. 
$3.00. 

HoLDEN,  Arthur  C,  and  others.  Primer 
of  Housing.  New  York:  Workers  Edu- 
cational Bureau,  1926.    $.35. 

HooPiNGARNER,  N.  L.  Personality  and 
Business  Ability  Analysis.  Chicago: 
A.  W.  Shaw  and  Company,  1927.  89  p. 
$5.00. 

HuRLiN,  Ralph  G.  Social  Work  Salaries. 
New  York:  Russell  Sage  Foundation, 
1926.    8  p. 

Jones,  F.  R.  Dangerous  Tendencies  in  the 
Workmen's  Compensation  Laws.  New 
York:  Workmen's  Compensation  Pub- 
licity Bureau,  1926.     19  p. 

KuNS,  R.  F.  Automotive  Trade  Training. 
3rd  edition.  Milwaukee:  Bruce  Pub- 
lishing Company,  1926.    666  p.    $3.50. 

Labor     Banks.     (A     Bibliography.)     New 


York:  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  1926. 
4p. 

Malapert,  Paulin.  An  Introduction  to 
the  Methodology  of  Science.  Trans,  by 
F.  C.  Sumner.  Institute,  W.  Va.:  West 
Virginia  Collegiate  Institute,  1926.  95  p. 
$.50. 

Patterson,  S.  H.,  and  Scholz,  K.  W.  H. 
Economic  Problems  of  Modern  Life.  New 
York:  McGraw-Hill  Publishing  Com- 
pany, 1927.    615  p.    $3.00. 

Pipkin,  Chas.  W.  The  Idea  of  Social  Jus- 
tice. New  York:  The  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, 1927.    612  p.    $3.50. 

Ruch,  G.  M.,  and  others.  Objective  Ex- 
amination Methods  in  the  Social  Studies. 
Chicago:  Scott,  Foresman  and  Company, 
1926.     123  p.    $1.60. 

Strasheim,  J.  J.  A  New  Method  of  Mental 
Testing.  Baltimore:  Warwick  and  York, 
1926.    158  p.    $1.80. 

Sumner,  Wm.  G.,  and  Keller,  A.  G.  The 
Science  of  Society.  Vol.1.  New  Haven: 
Yale  University,   1926.    766  p.    $4.00. 

Wood,  Thos.  D.,  M.D.,  and  Rowell,  H. 
G.,  M.D.  Health  Supervision  and  Medi- 
cal Inspection  of  Schools.  Philadelphia: 
W.  B.  Saunders  Company,  1927.  637  p. 
$7.50. 

Young  Women's  Christian  Association. 
Women  in  Industry  in  the  Orient.  New 
York:  Woman's  Press,  1926.  230p.    $1.50. 


News  Notes 


PERSONNEL  RESEARCH  FEDERATION 

Activities  of  Member  Organizations 
Columbia  University 

Report  of  Secretary  of  Appointments 

The  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of 
Appointments  at  Columbia  University  con- 
tains some  new  figures  on  the  cost  of  attend- 
ance for  an  academic  year  at  Columbia. 
Tuition  and  other  University  fees  vary 
from  S272  in  the  School  of  Law  to  $512  in 
the  College  of  Phj'sicians  and  Surgeons;  the 
average  for  men  in  Columbia  College  is 
$352.  Living  expenses  average  S998,  the 
minimum  being  8717. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  212  men  and  168 
women  were  placed  in  full-time  permanent 
positions.  Most  of  the  men  went  into  law, 
accounting,  manufacturing,  advertising, 
credit  investigation,  journalism,  and  public 
utilities.  Thirty-two  types  of  occupation 
are  represented.  Of  the  women,  68  took 
secretarial  positions,  56  stenographic,  and 
14  typing. 

A  New  Course  in  Placement 

A  new  course  in  Placement  is  announced 
by  Teachers  College  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity to  be  given  first  in  the  summer  ses- 
sion of  1927.  The  course  is  planned  for 
persons  interested  in  placement,  such  as 
Directors  of  Appointment  Bureaus,  deans, 
advisers  of  women  and  girls,  alumni  officers, 
registrars,  and  executives  in  colleges,  pro- 
fessional schools,  public  school  systems, 
philanthropic  organizations  (such  as  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.),  and  in  com- 
mercial bureaus. 

The  following  topics  will  be  discussed: 
Organization  of  the  placement  office;  inter- 
viewing; forms  and  records;  rating  and 
other  reference  forms;  calculation  of  costs; 
financing;  establishment  of  policies. 


The  discussion  of  the  duties  of  the  place- 
ment ofiicer  will  be  based  on  a  functional 
anah'sis  and  will  show  the  actual  steps 
which  the  placement  officer  must  take. 
The  problem  method  will  be  largely  em- 
ployed. Opportunity  will  be  offered  for 
visitation  and  inspection  of  w^ell-appointed 
placement  offices  in  New  York  City. 

As  an  outcome  of  the  course  the  student 
should  have  a  complete  outfit  necessary  for 
the  organization  of  a  placement  office  and 
an  acquaintance  with  the  best  current  prac- 
tises. Students  will  be  encouraged  to 
undertake  original  researches  in  this  field. 

The  course  will  be  given  by  Prof.  R.  G. 
Reynolds  and  Mr.  Robert  K.  Speer,  Direc- 
tor and  Assistant  Director,  Bureau  of 
Educational  Service,  Teachers  College,  and 
Dr.  H.  D.  Kitson. 

Other  special  lecturers  who  will  give 
courses  dealing  with  personnel  problems  in 
the  Columbia  Summer  Session  are:  Dr. 
Mary  H.  S.  Hayes,  Director,  Vocational 
Service  for  Juniors,  New  York  City,  Miss 
Nell  Swartz,  Director  of  Bureau  of  Women 
in  Industry,  New  York  State  Department 
of  Labor,  and  John  A.  Fitch,  New  York 
School  of  Social  Work. 

Personnel  Research  Studies  under 
the  Direction  of  H.  D.  Kitson 

I.  Investigations  concerning  teachers 
(through  the  study  of  vocational 
histories). 

1.  Personnel  study  of  college  teach- 

ers.    Doctoral    dissertation,    T. 
T.  Chung. 

2.  A  personnel  study  of  scientists  in 

the  United  States.    Doctoral  dis- 
sertation, C.  J.  Ho. 

3.  A    personnel     study    of     women 

scientists.    With  Lycia  Martin. 

4.  A   personnel    study   of   teachers. 

With  Virginia  Peeler. 


64 


News  Notes 


65 


5.  A  new  method  for  measuring  one's 
interest  in  a  vocation  with  refer- 
ence  to  the  degree   of  interest 
which    teachers    have    in    their 
vocation.     H.  D.  Kitson. 
II.  A  personnel  study  of  secretaries  in  the 
Y.W.C.A.    With   Zerita  Schwartz 
and  Edith  Gwinn. 

III.  A  survey  of  vocational    interests  of 

juveniles   in    a    typical  American 
community.    With  Ruth  Welty. 

IV.  Research   in  educational   guidance  of 

college    students.     Doctoral    dis- 
sertation, Charles  A.  Drake. 
V.  A  quantitative  study  of  the  operations 
performed     by     a     ledger     clerk. 
With  Harold  B.  Bergen. 

ANNUAL    CONFERENCE    OF    NATIONAL    VOCA- 
TIONAL  GUIDANCE    ASSOCIATION 

The  National  Vocational  Guidance 
Association  held  its  Annual  Conference  this 
year  at  Dallas,  Texas,  February  24,  25, 
and  26.  We  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Goodwin 
B.  Watson  for  kindly  consenting  to  prepare 
the  following  report  of  this  conference. 

Occupational  research  stood  prominent 
among  the  lines  of  endeavor  reporting 
progress  at  Dallas.  All  personnel  coun- 
sellors will  find  themselves  indebted  to  the 
study  reported  by  May  Rogers  Lane,  her 
bibliography  and  review  of  occupational 
studies  in  pamphlet  series.  Outlines  were 
presented  which  may  be  used  as  a  guide  for 
making  industrial  surveys  in  small  cities 
and  in  large  cities.  It  appeared  that  at 
least  a  score  of  cities  now  have  vocational 
pamphlets  of  some  sort  based  upon  the 
study  of  local  conditions.  Mary  Corre 
stressed  the  opportunity  and  responsibility, 
not  only  to  collect  such  information  but  to 
make  it  available  for  use  by  compiling  texts 
and  giving  these  an  actual  trial  in  experi- 
mental classes.  The  need  for  study  upon 
a  base  broader  than  a  single  city  is  sug- 
gested by  one  reported  finding,  that  the 
economic  basis  for  a  "back  to  the  farm" 
movement  is  lacking,  that  the  United  States 
has  already  10,000,000  too  many  acres  un- 
der cultivation. 

Upon  the  basis  of  existing  studies,  an 


increasing  number  of  courses  in  life  work  are 
being  offered  in  schools.  New  York  State 
now  gives  Regents'  credit  for  such  a  course 
taken  in  the  year  preceding  that  in  which 
pupils  can  legally  leave  school.  Survey 
of  opinions  concerning  the  objectives  in 
teaching  social  science,  indicates  that  11 
per  cent  of  the  total  time  given  to  social 
studies  may  justifiably  be  spent  in  helping 
students  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
vocational  opportunities  offered  in  the 
world.  Dallas  itself  offered  the  Association 
ample  evidence  of  the  need  for  such  study, 
in  a  report  that  showed  3  per  cent  of 
schoolboys  choosing  clerical  occupations, 
although  14  per  cent  of  the  openings  in  the 
city  were  of  that  type;  10  per  cent  choosing 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  pursuits  al- 
though 30  per  cent  of  the  opportunities  lay 
in  that  realm;  while  61  per  cent  chose  the 
professions  now  filled  by  only  about  5  per 
cent  of  the  population.  Such  choice  seems 
to  promise  a  grave  amount  of  thwarting! 
Southern  California  reported  a  most  ex- 
tensive educational  program,  including 
visits  to  samples  of  the  "extractive  in- 
dustries," manufacturing,  transportation, 
commerce,  and  professions,  with  talks  by 
persons  capable  of  opening  up  the  oppor- 
tunities and  requirements  in  each  field. 
There  must  have  been  almost  a  whole  cur- 
riculum for  discerning  teachers,  in  series 
of  visits  which  included  department  stores, 
hatcheries,  dairies,  airplane  factories,  news- 
papers, and  banks.  The  same  city  pre- 
sented an  attractive  exhibit  of  booklets 
each  representing  some  pupil's  tentative 
vocational  choice  and  discussing  the  basis 
for  the  choice  and  the  steps  of  preparation 
involved.  Not  all  of  the  vocational  guid- 
ance offered  by  schools  falls  within  the 
curriculum.  Tulsa  reported  an  extra- 
curricular program  of  striking  excellence. 
All  such  work  is  under  the  guidance  of 
faculty  members  who  give  to  it  half  of 
their  time.  The  work  is  all  credited. 
Every  student  spends  at  least  the  equiva- 
lent of  one  half-year  course,  in  the  study  of 
vocational  opportunities.  As  a  result  90 
per  cent  of  the  students  before  beginning 
their  senior  year  in  high  school  have  some 
sort  of  vocational  plan. 


66 


News  Notes 


Emotional  hygiene 

The  widespread  popular  interest  in  emo- 
tional hygiene  could  not  but  make  its 
contribution  to  the  field  of  vocational  ad- 
justment. One  investigator  reported  that 
61  per  cent  of  unsatisfactory  emplo5'ees 
were  discharged  for  reasons  other  than 
their  technical  incapacity.  The  real  rea- 
sons for  failure  lay  in  the  realm  of  personal- 
ity adjustment.  Hence  real  vocational 
counsel  and  training  must  of  necessity  try 
to  provide  proper  emotional  habits.  The 
problem  in  many  cases  reaches  back  to 
early  childhood.  Back  of  each  problem 
child  stands  somewhere  an  unsolved  prob- 
lem of  a  child.  Perhaps  in  a  need  for  atten- 
tion, a  conviction  that  failure  is  inevitable, 
or  in  the  jealousy  of  family  associates,  lies 
the  major  source  of  maladjustment. 
Vocational  and  educational  counsellors 
were  thought  of  not  as  replacing  psychia- 
trists and  expert  psychologists,  but  as 
belonging  both  to  the  school  and  to  social 
work,  able  to  recognize  a  problem  in  its 
early  stages,  and  knowing  when  and  how  to 
make  use  of  experts.  Even  in  the  colleges, 
as  Dr.  Blake  so  ably  reported  for  Smith 
College,  personnel  activity  is  showing  in- 
creasing concern  for  the  happiest  adjust- 
ment of  the  conflicts  which  beset  each  in- 
dividual, the  ablest  quite  as  much  as  the 
less  competent. 

Training  of  vocational  counselors 

Such  activities  in  occupational  research, 
vocational  education,  and  personal  guid- 
ance, presuppose  trained  counsellors.  Ap- 
parently the  demand  is  increasing.  Twelve 
cities  in  New  York  State  now  have  full 
time  or  half  time  vocational  counsellors. 
The  demand  comes  not  only  from  schools 
but  from  industry.  What  shall  be  regarded 
as  adequate  preparation?  The  answer  is 
formidable.  Courses  in  educational  psy- 
chology, principles  of  teaching,  educational 
measurements,  sociology,  industrial  history, 
economics,  theory  of  vocational  education, 
vocational  and  educational  guidance,  occu- 
pational training  opportunities  in  the  state, 
industrial  occupations,  commercial  occu- 
pations, the  professions  and  semi-profes- 
sional occupations,  method  in  counsel  and 


placement,  psychological  tests  used  in 
guidance,  labor  problems,  legislation  and 
employment  conditions — these  are  the  de- 
mands of  the  University  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  Clearly  also,  if  95  per  cent  of 
the  high  school  teachers  in  the  North 
Central  Association  have  at  least  a  bache- 
lor's degree,  no  lower  standard  can  be  tol- 
erated for  counsellors.  Other  speakers 
pointed  out  needsforsocial  case  work  experi- 
ence, a  background  of  industrial  experience, 
ability  to  recognize  psychiatric  symptoms, 
experience  in  finding  a  job,  experience  in  a 
work-certificate  office,  visits  to  a  variety  of 
occupations,  apprenticeship  to  an  experi- 
enced counsellor,  and  the  achievement  of 
objectivity  and  balance  within  the  coun- 
sellor's own  life.  If  such  standards  repre- 
sent more  than  wishes,  vocational  guidance 
has  indeed  emerged  out  of  the  realm  of 
mere  kind-heartedness  into  a  professional 
status. 

Only  brief  mention  can  be  given  to  a  va- 
riety of  other  contributions.  The  writer 
was  deeply  impressed  by  the  meagre 
development  of  the  field  of  educational 
scholarships,  in  contrast  to  its  possibilities. 
It  appears  that  the  boy  with  three  years  of 
high  school  may  expect  a  third  more  salary 
than  the  grammar  school  boy,  and  has  a 
far  better  chance  at  executive  positions. 
This  is,  of  course,  but  a  fraction  of  the 
contribution  which  extended  education 
may  bring  to  a  life.  A  few  organizations 
here  and  there  are  offering  scholarships, 
many  without  the  careful  social  case  work 
which  characterized  the  activity  of  those 
present  at  Dallas.  As  yet  there  has  been 
little  coordination  and  unification  of  the 
scholarships.  All  of  the  tasks  of  the  social 
worker  in  determining  the  responsibility 
which  should  be  allotted  to  parents,  grand- 
parents, older  children,  and  distant  rela- 
tives, are  mixed  up  in  the  decisions  which 
scholarship  committees  must  make.  Place- 
ment also  received  careful  attention.  Out 
of  the  art  of  a  few  is  developing  a  science 
which  may  serve  many.  As  yet,  however, 
the  colleges  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W. 
C.  A.  and  other  organizations  carrying 
forward  placement,  must  place  their  main 
dependence  upon  a  placement  secretary 
with  sympathetic,    constructive   imagina- 


News  Notes 


67 


tion,  able  to  put  himself  in  the  other  fel- 
low's place.  Tests  were  given  due  consider- 
ation. The  expected  difference  of  opinion 
between  those  who  believed  the  movement 
to  be  still  in  the  phase  of  a  naive  overem- 
phasis upon  tests  and  those  who  believed  it 
to  have  reached  a  point  of  sane  appraisal 
and  constructive  effort,  was  present  but 
not  glaring.  Mention  was  made  of  Thorn- 
dike's  recent  indictment  of  intelligence 
tests  as  limited  by  ambigui.ty  of  content, 
arbitrariness  of  unit,  and  ambiguity  of 
significance.  A  review  of  work  done  upon 
the  measurement  of  character  during  1926 
showed  a  surprising  amount  of  activity, 
most  of  which  is  in  the  laboratory  stage  but 
which  confirms  the  validity  of  such  time- 
honored  indices  as  type  of  home,  choice  of 
friends,  and  use  of  time.  If  Edgerton's 
statement  that  in  a  survey  of  147  schools 
only  8  per  cent  were  making  any  use  of 
tests  in  relation  to  vocation,  be  representa- 
tive, there  is  no  immediate  danger  of  ex- 
cessive confidence  in  test  results. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  two  sugges- 
tions made  for  future  conventions.  One  was 
that  provision  be  made  for  a  careful  sur- 
vey of  research  in  each  of  the  fields  of  in- 
terest represented  in  the  National  Voca- 
tional Guidance  Association.  Thus  those 
whose  regular  work  did  not  permit  the 
study  of  the  technical  journals  covering 
tests,  inter\'iewing,  occupational  research, 
training  standards,  etc.,  might  be  brought 
up  to  date  during  the  annual  meeting.  A 
second  suggestion,  presented  by  twenty-two 
employed  officers  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  who  were  in  attendance  at 
Dallas,  suggested  an  appraisal  of  the  de- 
ficiencies of  the  present  economic  system 
and  of  some  proposals  for  improvement,  in 
order  that  vocational  counsel  might  not 
blindly  use  its  techniques  for  fitting  young 
people  into  a  regime  which  does  not  give 
to  them  the  largest  possible  development  of 
personality. 

JOSEPH  A.  HOLMES  MINE  SAFETY  ASSOCIATION 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Joseph  A. 
Holmes  jVIine  Safety  Association  was  held 
at  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  March  5,  1927. 

The  report  of  the  auditing  committee 


indicated  that  the  association  is  in  strong 
financial  condition;  that  the  number  of 
chapters  are  increasing;  that  in  certain 
sections  of  the  country  there  is  a  marked 
lack  of  sustained  interest  and  that  it  will 
be  necessary  to  secure  the  cooperation  of 
the  Operators'  Association,  the  Miners' 
organization,  and  the  state  mining  officials, 
in  order  to  build  up  and  maintain  interest 
in  the  local  chapters  of  the  association. 

The  award  committee  reported  medals 
and  certificates  that  had  been  granted  to 
individuals  for  personal  heroism  and  com- 
petent leadership  at  times  of  mine  disasters. 
The  award  committee  also  reported  the 
awarding  of  certificates  to  certain  mines 
and  affiliated  industries  that  were  able  to 
show  a  record  of  no  casualties  by  accidents 
during  long  times  of  operation.  Among 
the  industries  that  were  reported  to  re- 
ceive awards  were  a  zinc  mine  and  cement 
factory.  The  suggestion  was  made  and 
agreed  to  that  in  future  awards  should  also 
be  computed  upon  health  records  within 
mines  or  factories,  since  occupational  dis- 
ease is  also  preventable  and  the  Holmes 
Safety  Association  should  take  cognizance 
of  healthful  conditions  as  well  as  ratio  of 
accidents.  An  instructive  debate  followed, 
led  by  Mr.  Paul  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  on 
the  frequency  of  accidents  from  falls  of 
rock  in  mines  and  on  means  to  mitigate  or 
to  eliminate  such  accidents. 

IMPROVEMENT  IN   ENGINEEP.ING   EDUCATION 

To  bring  about  improvement  in  engineer- 
ing education  the  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Engineering  Education  in  1923  set  up  the 
Board  of  Investigation  and  Coordination. 
To  find  out  first  what  needed  to  be  done  this 
Board  undertook  a  three  year  investigation 
in  this  and  other  countries.  Second,  to 
make  use  of  the  facts  gathered,  the  Board 
planned  a  two  year  program  of  experiment, 
demonstration,  training,  and  supplementary 
investigation. 

Among  the  needs  revealed  are:  Better 
balance  of  types  of  schools  and  programs  in 
the  system  of  technical  education;  closer 
connection  of  engineering  courses  with 
those  in  other  colleges;  cooperation  with 


68 


News  Notes 


preparatory  schools  for  sounder  preliminary 
education ;  educational  guidance  for  prospec- 
tive students,  together  with  information 
aljout  the  engineer's  work;  selective 
methods  for  admission  to  engineering 
colleges;  aids  to  personal  and  occupational 
adjustment  of  students;  better  procedure 
for  placement  of  graduates;  better  prepara- 
tion and  status  of  engineering  teachers; 
better  teaching  of  economics  of  engineering ; 
and  relief  from  overcrowded  programs. 

One  of  the  most  immediate  needs  is  to 
provide  for  large  numbers  of  j'oung  men 
a  briefer,  more  practical,  more  intensive 
training  than  that  of  an  engineering  college, 
broader  than  that  of  a  trade  school. 

The  two-year  program  is  developing 
means  for  satisfying  these  and  other  needs. 
Years  of  effort  by  colleges  and  other  bodies 
will  be  required  for  achievement  of  im- 
provements. The  Board  aims  to  stimulate 
and  guide  the  colleges  in  the   solution  of 


their  individual   problems.     Some    objec- 
tives are: 

1.  Better  admission,  teaching,  and  place- 
ment methods,  and  reduction  of  costly 
"mortality"  in  engineering  colleges; 

2.  Broader  and  simpler  curricula,  with 
more  emphasis  on  principles  and  on  eco- 
nomic aspects  of  engineering; 

3.  Better  provision  for  attracting  and 
training  men  competent  to  be  teachers; 

4.  Better  adjustment  between  college 
education  and  industrial  experience; 

5.  Improved  means  for  training  in  special- 
ties and  business  practices  after  gradua- 
tion; 

6.  Closer  bonds  between  colleges,  en- 
gineering  societies   and   industries; 

7.  Better  balance  of  facilities  for  voca- 
tional education,  technical  education,  and 
professional  education  in  engineering; 

8.  Economies  of  human  effort  and  of 
funds,  resulting  from  these  betterments. 


Current  Periodicals 


HoYT,  Ch.\rles  W.  Traditional  Skill  vs. 
Scientific  Methods  of  Management.  Sales 
Management,  February  19,  1927,  vol.  12, 
No.  4,  pp.  331-332,  362. 

Management  is  taking  over  the  prob- 
lems of  training  which  used  to  be  passed 
on  haphazardly  from  old  salesmen  to  new. 

HoYT,  Charles  W.  Can  Taylor's  System 
of  Management  be  Used  in  Sales  Work? 
Sales  Management,  February  5,  1927, 
Vol.  12,  No.  3,  pp.  227-228,  292. 

VanVlissingen,  Arthur,  Jr.  It's  Not  a 
Big  Enough  Job.  System,  February, 
1927,  Vol.  51,  No.  2,  pp.  178-180,  254-259. 

The  story  of  a  president's  plan  for 
salvaging  the  time  wasted  on  little  jobs. 

McIlvain,  Edwin  H.,  M.D.  Eliminating 
Human  Waste  in  Industry.  Manufactur- 
ing Industries,  March,  1927,  Vol.  13,  No. 
3,  pp.  195^198. 

Suggests  seven  points  of  attack  to  elimi- 
nate human  waste  and  control  labor  cost: 
(1)  Proper  selection  and  assignment;  (2) 
proper  introduction  to  work;  (3)  correct 
shop  environment;  (4)  safety  and  accident 
prevention;  (5)  analysis  of  quits;  (6) 
health  supervision;  and  (7)  close  contact 
with  employee  through  service  work. 

DiEMjER,  Hugo.  Better  Methods  a  Time- 
study  Objective.  Manufacturing  Indus- 
tries, March,  1927,  Vol.  13,  No.  3,  pp.  205- 
208. 

An  essential  point  of  view  that  is  be- 
coming lost. 

BiNZ,  G.  A.  A  Report  System  That  Indus- 
trial Salesmen  are  Glad  to  Use.  Printer's 
Ink,  January  20,  1927,  Vol.  138,  No.  3, 
pp.  113-116. 

Make  the  system  easy  to  operate  and 
convince  the  salesmen  that  it  is  designed 
to  help  them. 

Anonymous.    Keeping    Individual     Sales- 
men's Records.     Electrical  World,  Febru- 
ary 5,  1927,  Vol.  89,  No.  6,  pp.  309-310. 
In  planning  its  sales  program  for  1927 


the  commercial  department  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Light  and  Power  Corporation 
will  use  schedules  to  show  each  salesman 
how  he  is  progressing  and  how  he  checks 
up  with  bogey. 

BruJire,  Robert  W.  The  Mind  in  the  Ma- 
chine. Survey,  February  1,  1927,  Vol.  57, 
No.  9,  pp.  57^-583 . 

The  ideals  of  Taj^lor  applied  to  person- 
nel, the  relation  of  the  machine  to  human 
behavior,  personnel  work  as  a  matter  of 
good  business,  and  personnel  technique. 

LiTTLEFiELD,  H.  J.  How  Efficient  Lighting 
Affects  Production  and  Profit.  Industrial 
Management,  March,  1927,  Vol.  73,  No. 
3,  pp.  184-187. 

Second  of  a  series  of  articles  designed  to 
acquaint  the  industrial  executive  with 
modern  practice  in  factory  illumination. 
Present  installment  answers  "What  is 
good  local  lighting,  where  is  its  logical 
application,  and  how  may  it  be  ob- 
tained?" 

Rademacher,  W.  H.  Artificial  Lighting  in 
Foundries.  Safety  Engineering,  March, 
1927.     Vol.  53,  No.  3,  pp.  97-102. 

Motley,  Ralph  E.  Fewer  Accidents  by 
Analyzing  Causes.  Manufacturing  In- 
dustries, March,  1927,  Vol.  13,  No.  3,  pp. 
189-193. 

Viteles,  Morris  S.  Transportation  Safety 
by  Selection  and  Training.  Industrial 
Psy.,  March,  1927,  Vol.  2,  No.  3,  pp.  119- 
128. 

Shepard,  George  H.  Industrial  Fatigue. 
Manufacturers'  News,  Feb.,  1927,  Vol.  31, 
No.  2,  pp.  35-36,  55. 

The  second  half  of  a  paper  analyzing  the 
Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  British  Indus- 
trial Fatigue  Research  Board.  The  first 
part  appeared  in  the  January  number  of 
Manufacturers'  News. 

Anonymous.  2,800,000  Pay-Roll  Hours 
without  an  Accident.  Factory,  Febru- 
ary, 1927,  Vol.  38,  No.  2,  pp.  262-265. 


69 


70 


Current  Periodicals 


Gives  the  high  lights  of  the  "Xo-acci- 
dent"  contest  at  the  DuPont  Dye  Works, 
Carney's  Point,  X.  J.,  in  which  every 
worker  took  an  active  part.  The  plant, 
employing  about  1450  men,  operated  328 
days  without  a  single  mishap,  through  the 
spirit  which  the  campaign  created  among 
the  workers. 
Hanxvm,  Joshua  Eyre.  To  Find  What 
Poor  Eyes  Cost  Your  Firm.  Industrial 
Psy.,  February,  1927,  Vol.  2,  Xo.  2, 
pp.  70-74. 

Outlines  a  method  for  investigation 
aimed  to  yield  results  covering:  (1)  Prev- 
alence of  defective  vision;  (2)  per  cent 
of  visual  correction  accomplished;  (3) 
individual  and  total  increases  in  produc- 
tion due  to  correction  of  defective  vision; 
(4)  individual  and  total  improvement  in 
quality  of  workmanship;  (5)  reduction  of 
waste  of  material;  (6)  increase  in  earn- 
ings; (7)  reduction  in  cost  of  production; 
(8)  saving  to  company  on  annual  basis  for 
each  operation  studied;  (9)  average  cost 
per  employee  of  eyesight  service  rendered 
by  the  company;  (10)  benefit  toemployees. 
Anonymous.  New  Liability  Under  Work- 
men's Compensation  Act.  Engineering 
and  Mining  Journal,  February  19,  1927, 
Vol.  123,  Xo.  8,  pp.  315  ff. 

A  workman  who  had  previously  suffered 
the  loss  of  an  eye  through  a  non-industrial 
accident  was  emploj'ed  and  while  working 
lost  the  other  eye.  The  California  Su- 
preme Court  annulled  the  Industrial  Ac- 
cident Commission's  award  of  a  26  per 
cent  permanent  disability  rating  and 
granted  permanent  total  disability. 
Steps  are  to  be  taken  aiming  at  amend- 
ment of  the  present  law. 
A.  N.  Y.,  Sales  Manager.  Fitting  the  Sales 
Compensation  Method  to  the  SalesTnan. 
Printers'  Ink,  January  27,  1927,  Vol.  138, 
Xo.  4,  pp.  146-154. 

This     company     uses     nine     distinct 
methods  of  compensation: 

1.  Straight  salary  plus  actual  expenses 

2.  Straight  salary  plus  daily  expense 
allowance 

3.  Flat   commission;   no   expenses   al- 
lowed 

4.  Grouped    commissions    plus    actual 
expenses 


5.  Grouped  commissions  plus  daily  al- 
lowance 

6.  Bonus  for  excess  over  flat  sales  quota 
plus  actual  expenses 

7.  Bonus  for  excess  over  grouped  sales 
quota  plus  actual  expenses 

8.  Minimum  salary  plus  value  allow- 
ance plus  commissions  plus  actual  ex- 
penses 

9.  Minimum  salary  plus  value  allow- 
ance plus  commissions  plus  daily  al- 
lowance 

Foreman,  Frank  L.  .4  Bonus  Plan  Based 
on  the  Salesman's  General  Results. 
Printers'  Ink,  February  10,  1927,  Vol. 
138,  Xo.  6,  pp.  33-34. 

This  plan  takes  into  consideration  the 
fact  that  all  territories  are  not  equal  in 
sales  producing  opportunities. 

Baird,  D.  G.  The  'Stop-Loss'  Plan  in 
Advancing  Money  to  Salesmen.  Sales 
Management,  February  19,  1927,  Vol.  13, 
Xo.  4,  pp.  347-348,  372. 

Strict  discipline  in  Sales  Department 
and  careful  training  of  newcomers  cuts 
drawing  account  losses  to  SIOOO  a  year  for 
Frigidaire  Detroit  Branch. 

Alexander,  Magnus  W.  Fundamentals  of 
the  Wage  Problem.  Manufacturers'  Xews, 
February,  1927,  Vol.  31,  Xo.  2,  pp.  17-18, 
82-83. 

Part  of  an  address  before  the  Illinois 
Manufacturers'  Costs  Assn.,  Chicago,  by 
the  President  of  the  Xational  Industrial 
Conference  Board. 

RuKEYSER,  Merryle  Stanley.  Real  Wages 
at  High  Peak:  Will  They  Last 7  Forbes 
Mag.,  February  15,  1927,  Vol.  19,  Xo.  4, 
pp.  13-14,  44-46. 

At  present  there  is  an  era  of  good  feel- 
ing between  capital  and  labor.  The  opti- 
mists feel  that  it  will  last  forever.  It 
seems  more  reasonable  to  restrict  the 
prophecy  to  the  statement  that  the  good 
feeling  will  last  as  long  as  general  busi- 
ness flourishes. 

Basset,  William  R.     Bonuses  for  Execu- 
tives.   Business,  February,  1927,  Vol.  8, 
Xo.  5,  pp.  12-13,  41. 
Incentive  plans  for  the  men  at  the  top. 

McDonald,  Lois.  Education  by  Confer- 
ence. American  Federationist,  February, 
1927,  Vol.  34,  Xo.  2,  pp.  188-190. 


Current  Periodicals 


71 


Describes  the  conferences  held  every 
summer  under  the  auspices  of  the  Indus- 
trial Department  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
After  lectures  the  group  is  split  into 
smaller  groups  for  discussion  under 
trained  leaders. 

Greene,  James  H.  Are  You  Using  the 
Department  Store  Training  Department? 
Printers'  Ink,  January  27,  1927,  Vol.  138, 
No.  4,  pp.  17-20. 

"The  purpose  of  this  article  is  to  point 
out  to  manufacturers  the  importance  of 
clearing  their  efforts  and  contributions 
through  the  training  departments  of  de- 
partment stores,  thus  joining  them  to 
those  of  the  organized  agency  which  is 
successfully  coping  with  the  problem  of 
providing  the  customer  with  complete, 
courteous  and  intelligent  service." 

Leigh,  Ruth.  How  Best  to  Invest  $5,000  in 
Training  Retail  Salespeople.  Printers' 
Ink,  January  20,  1927,  Vol.  138,  Xo.  3, 
pp.  129-130. 

Getting  the  most  from  a  limited  appro- 
priation. 

Veach,  C.  W.  Developing  Executives  in  the 
Manufacturing  Plant.  Manufacturing 
Industries,  March,  1927,  Vol.  13,  Xo.  3, 
pp.  193-194. 

Gentles,  Harry  W.  Training  a  Staff  of 
First  Aiders.  National  Safety  News, 
March,  1927,  Vol.  15,  No.  3,  pp.  9-10. 

TiLY,  Herbert  J.  The  New  Manager — • 
Teacher  of  Technique.  System,  February, 
1927,  Vol.  51,  No.  2,  pp.  156-158,  194-196. 

"A  business  can  be  'run'  by  a  man  who 
gives  orders  and  never  bothers  to  teach. 
But  it  can  be  managed  only  by  the  man 
who  concerns  himself  with  general  prin- 
ciples and  with  teaching  them  to  his 
helpers." 

Anonymous.  Educational  Course^,  for  In- 
dustrial Employees.  School  and  Society, 
February  5,  1927,  Vol.  25,  No.  632,  pp. 
15S-159. 

Describes  methods  of  some  utility  com- 
panies in  Chicago  to  find  an  incentive 
for  their  employees  to  obtain  high  school 
and  college  credits  in  their  spare  mo- 
ments. When  a  student  can  show  a  satis- 
factory grade  in  an  approved  study,  the 
company  gives  him  a  check  for  half  the 
cost  of  the  tuition. 


HiNES,  Harlan  C.  How  to  Select  Potential 
Executives.  Printers'  Ink,  February, 
1927,  Vol.  14,  No.  2,  pp.  50-54,  87. 

Some  points  not  ordinarily  considered 
in  such  selections:  Native  Equipment, 
Home  Training,  School  Training,  Health. 

Bergen,  H.  B.  What  Personnel  Men  Don't 
Knov)  About  Judging  Human  Traits.  In- 
dustrial Psy.,  February,  1927,  Vol.  2,  No. 
2,  pp.  80-83. 

Earle,  F.  M.  Occupational  Analysis  and 
the  Vocational  Adviser.  Industrial  Psy., 
February,  1927,  Vol.  2,  No.  2,  pp.  93-94. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley.  Traits  for  Estimating 
Success.  Industrial  Psy.,  February,  1927, 
Vol.  2,  No.  2,  pp.  61-63. 

Health;  Second  Breath;  Free  Mobility 
up  and  down  the  Pleasure-Pain  Scale; 
Sympathy;  Love  of  Nature;  Sublimation; 
Activity  and  Passivity;  Loyalty  and  Fi- 
delity." 

HcLL,  Clark  L.  Variability  in  Amount  of 
Different  Traits  Possessed  by  the  Indi- 
vidual. Journal  of  Educational  Psy., 
February,  1927,  Vol.  18,  No.  2,  pp.  97- 
106. 

"It  is  the  purpose  of  this  article  to  show 
that  the  conventional  account  of  differ- 
ential psychology  ....  is  neither  com- 
plete nor  adequate.  On  the  contrary,  it 
leaves  out  of  account  a  whole  division  of 
the  subject,  one  which  is  likely  to  prove  of 
greater  importance  than  the  aspect  which 
has  received  so  much  attention.  This  is 
the  variability  within  the  individual 
himself." 

Watson,  Goodwin  B.  A  Supplementary 
Reviexv  of  Measures  of  Personality  Traits. 
Journal  of  Educational  Psy.,  February, 
1927,  Vol.  18,  No.  2,  pp.  73-«7. 

Mich.vel,  Wm.,  and  Crawford,  C.  C.  An 
Experiment  in  Judging  Intelligence  by 
the  Voice.  Journal  of  Educational  Psy., 
February,  1927,  Vol.  18,  No.  2,  pp.  107- 
114. 

Results  stated  as  follows:  "The  three 
factors,  scholarship,  intelligence,  and 
inflection,  are  about  equally  intercorre- 
lated,  and  any  one  of  the  three  is  about  as 
safe  a  basis  for  predicting  another  as  any 
two  combined.  There  is  little  or  no 
advantage  to  be  gained  by  combining 
measures  of  other  voice  factors  with  in- 


72 


Current  Periodicals 


flection,  since  correlations  with  intelli- 
gence or  scholarship  are  not  raised 
appreciably  as  a  result." 
ScHRAMMEL,  H.  E.  Faciors  in  a  College 
Man's  Choice  of  a  Career.  Vocational 
Guidance  Magazine,  February,  1927,  Vol. 

5,  No.  5,  pp.  214-218. 

This  discussion  is  limited  to  setting  up 
a  number  of  factors  which  should  be 
taken  into  account  by  a  man,  and  chiefly 
a  college  man,  in  choosing  his  life  career. 
It  includes  those  who  choose  careers 
before  entering  college  as  well  as  those 
who  choose  while  pursuing  their  college 
courses. 

Burr,  Emily.  Adapting  the  Feeble-Minded 
to  Industry.  Industrial  Psy.,  March,  1927, 
Vol.  2,  No.  3,  pp.  132-138. 

Va.\  Kleeck,  Mary.  The  Interview  as  a 
Method  of  Research.  Bulletin  of  the  Tay- 
lor Society,  December,  1926,  Vol.  11,  Xo. 

6,  pp.  268  ff. 

Its  importance  as  an  essential  element 
of  the  total  procedure  of  an  investigation 
involving  human  relations. 

Stott,  Mary  Boole.  How  Europe  is  Or- 
ganized for  Guidance.  Industrial  Psj'., 
February,  1927,  Vol.  2,  No.  2,  pp.  95-101. 

Anonj'mous.  Suggested  Tests  for  Instru- 
ment Men.  Public  Personnel  Studies, 
February,  1927,  Vol.  5,  No.  2,  pp.  39-44. 

Ford,  Ch.a.s.  P.  Arbitral  Procedure  for 
Electrical  Builders.  American  Federa- 
tionist,  February,  1927,  Vol.  34,  Xo.  2,  pp. 
178-181. 

Describes  the  work  and  principles  of 
the  "National  Council  on  Industrial  Re- 
lations for  the  Electrical  Construction 
Industry  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada."  Five  members  from  the  em- 
ployers and  five  from  the  union  compose 
the  personnel.  "In  everj'  instance  where 
Council  principles  have  been  applied  to 
industrial  disputes,  there  has  been  no 
cessation  of  work,  and  no  loss  of  time, 
wages  or  profits  to  either  employer  or 
employee. 

"The  sanity  if  the  Council  is  indi- 
cated by:  'Wages  should  be  adjusted  with 
due  regard  to  purchasing  power  of  the 
wages  and  to  the  right  of  every  man  to 
an  opportunity  to  earn  a  living  and 
accumulate  a  competence;  to  reasonable 


hours  of  work  and  working  conditions;  to 
a  decent  home,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of 
proper  social  conditions,  in  order  to  im- 
prove the  general  standard  of  citizen- 
ship.'" 
Anonymous.  Trades  Unionists  Recognize 
Benefits  to  Workers  of  Open  Shop.  The 
Labor  Digest,  January,  1927,  Vol.  19,  No. 

1,  pp.  3-6. 

McDougall,  Alice  Foote.  Because  She 
Speaks  Their  Language.  Management, 
February,  1927,  Vol.  28,  No.  2,  pp.  34-37, 
64. 

How  one  woman  who  has  made  an  out- 
standing business  success  secures  and 
builds  upon  the  cooperation  of  her  em- 
ployees. 

Beyxox,  Gixty.  Who  Hates  Whom — and 
Why.  Management,  February,  1927,  Vol. 
28,  Xo.  2,  pp.  41-43,  64. 

Does  the  chief  executive  know  to  what 
extent  personal  reasons  are  influencing 
the  business  judgment  of  his  department 
heads? 

Anonymous.  Obedience  vs.  Cooperation. 
Management,  February  1927,  Vol.  28,  Xo. 

2,  p.  68. 

Management  can  create  new  executives 
by  issuing  an  order;  but  it  cannot  endow 
them  with  the  training  and  experience 
necessary  to  make  them  effective.  The 
cooperative  method  of  management  pro- 
vides executives  ready  trained  for  any 
situation. 
Anonymous.  Giving  Business  Facts  to 
Workers  Through  Employee  Representation. 
Factory,  February,  1927,  Vol.  38,  No.  2, 
pp.  273-274. 

Too  often  specific  but  limited  items  are 
considered  as  indicative  of  the  best  re- 
sults of  works  councils,  such  as  a  change 
in  working  hours,  or  increased  production. 
The  most  important  thing  is  to  bring 
employers  and  employees  together  for  a 
common  point  of  view  in  every  mutual 
endeavor. 
MooNEY,  F.  A.  Services  of  a  Company 
Library.  Management  Review,  Febru- 
ary, 1927,  Vol.  16,  No.  2,  pp.  39^2. 

Describes  functions  of  the  library,  edu- 
cation services  and  operating  technique. 
"The  motivating  principle  underlying 
every  aspect  of  Dennison  library  service 


Current  Periodicals 


73 


is  that  of  making  educational  and  infor- 
mational resources  available  to  every 
Dennisonian." 

Howard,  Russell  E.  How  Group  Insur- 
ance Is  Received.  Industrial  Psy.,  Febru- 
ary, 1927,  Vol.  2,  No.  2,  pp.  75-79. 

What  the  employers  thought  after  try- 
ing group  insurance. 

Blankenhorn,  Mary  Dewhurst.  Do  Work- 
ing Women  Want  It?  Survey,  February 
15,  1927,  Vol.  57,  No.  101,  pp.  630-631. 

Consumer's  League  of  New  York  re- 
ports on  the  answers  of  500  women  to  the 
question:  "Do  working  women  want  the 
48-hour  law?"  81  per  cent  favored  the 
48-hour  law;  2  per  cent  thought  48  hours 
too  long;  9  per  cent  preferred  a  longer 
week;  and  8  per  cent  qualified  their 
answers. 

LoREE,  L.  F.  Stabilizing  Employment  by  an 
Elastic  Work-Day.  Industrial  Manage- 
ment, March,  1927,  Vol.  73,  No.  3,  pp. 
129-134. 

A  unique  plan  for  regulating  working 
hours  to  conform  with  fluctuations  in 
business. 

Parker,  Leo  T.  When  Legal  Battles  Loom 
as  a  Result  of  Discharging  Salesmen. 
Sales  Management,  January  22,  1927,  Vol. 
12,  No.  2,  pp.  151-152,  191.  Concluded  in 
issue  of  February  5,  1927,  pp.  252-254. 

Five  points  of  law  brought  up  when  dis- 
charged salesmen  sued  the  firm  for  sub- 
stantial damages  for  breach  of  contract. 

Wardell,  Fred.  When  One  of  My  Men 
Wants  to  Quit.  Sales  Management,  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1927,  Vol.  12,  No.  3,  pp.  205- 
206,  282-284. 

How  the  founder  of  Eureka  built  an 
organization  that  makes  and  sells  one- 
third  of  all  the  vacuum  cleaners. 

Anonymous.  Labor  Turnover  Figures  as  a 
Guide    to    Management.     Manufacturers' 


News,  February,  1927,  Vol.  31,  No.  2,  pp. 
37-38,  62-64. 

This  report,  which  incorporates  the  ex- 
perience of  several  hundred  companies, 
suggests  a  suitable  record  form  and  gives 
actual  illustrations  of  its  use  as  a  deter- 
rent to  costly  and  unnecessary  changes  in 
personnel. 

Anonymous.  7s  this  the  Solution  to  the 
Problem  of  the  Superannuated  Salesman? 
Sales  Management,  February  19,  1927, 
Vol.  12,  No.  4,  pp.  338-340. 

How  Phoenix  Mutual  devised  a  plan  to 
reduce  turnover  and  take  care  of  sales- 
men grown  old  in  service. 

Parker,  Leo  T.  Does  Your  Contract  with 
Salesmen  Invite  Lawsuits?  Sales  Manage- 
ment, February  19,  1927,  Vol.  12,  No.  4, 
pp.  355-356,  374^375. 

These  contracts  seemed  lawyer-proof 
but  the  house  lost  in  court  because  terms 
of  compensation,  commissions,  and  work- 
ing conditions  were  vague. 

HoLLMAN,  Chas.  Do  You  Usc  or  Abuse  the 
Employment  Agency?  Management,  Feb- 
ruary, 1927,  Vol.  28,  No.  2,  pp.  44-50,  106. 
A  veteran  employment  man  shows  how 
managerial  cooperation  enables  the 
agency  to  help  solve  the  executive's  labor 
problems. 

Merrick,  Chas.  P.  The  Personnel  Agency 
as  an  Integral  Part  of  Public  Administra- 
tion. Public  Personnel  Studies,  Febru- 
ary, 1927,  Vol.  5,  No.  1,  pp.  2-10. 

It  is  the  conviction  of  the  author  that 
government  in  the  immediate  future  is 
going  to  have  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  not 
as  a  matter  of  sentiment,  an  energetic, 
effective,  positive  administration  of  its 
personnel  problem. 

Gardiner,  Glenn  L.  Putting  the  Best  Foot 
Forward.  Industrial  Psy.,  March,  1927, 
Vol.  2,  No.  3,  pp.  143-149. 


Ford  Profit  Sharing,  1914-1920 

I.  The  Growth  of  the  Plan 

By  Samuel  M.  Levin,  College  of  the  City  of  Detroit 

The  Ford  projit  sharing  plan  reached  its  crest  and  saw  its  decline 
in  the  period  from  191  If.  to  1920.  The  plan  combined  the  novel 
features  of  payment  of  profit  rates  in  advance,  qualification  in  terms 
of  character,  habits,  and  proper  living,  and  a  minimum  of  five 
dollars  for  an  eight  hour  day. 

Although  the  plan  was  a  huge  and  remarkable  undertaking, 
the  real  facts  of  it  are  unknown  to  many  personnel  men.  The 
Personnel  Journal  is  fortunate  to  be  able  to  present  a  series 
of  two  lucid  and  stimidating  articles  on  this  topic.  The  first  of 
these  describes  the  growth  of  the  plan  and  its  method  of  operation. 
The  second  article,  which  will  follow  in  the  October  number,  con- 
tinues the  account  through  the  passing  away  of  the  plan  and  the 
adoption  of  substitute  devices. 


WHEN  Ford's  profit  sharing 
plan  was  announced  suddenly 
in  the  Detroit  newspapers  on 
January  5,  1914,  people  the  world  over 
sat  up  and  wondered  at  the  unex- 
ampled beneficence  of  a  nian  who  was 
letting  ten  million  dollars  slip  out  of  his 
pocket  merely  as  a  token  of  his  good 
will.  Doubtless  the  plan  was  con- 
ceived in  a  generous  spirit;  yet  it  did 
not  burst  out  of  Ford's  mind  in  a  dra- 
matic moment  of  inspiration  and  fine 
impulse.  A  number  of  antecedent 
conditions  will  help  to  accoimt  for  it. 
"It  was  along  in  1912,"  writes  Mr. 
John  R.  Lee,  a  gentleman  who  had 
much  to  do  with  the  development  of 
the  humane  policies  of  the  Ford  organ- 
ization, "that  we  began  to  reaHze 
something  of  the  value  of  men,  mech- 


anism and  material  in  the  threefold 
phase  of  manufacturing,  so  to  speak." 
The  standard  of  a  worker  operating  a 
drop  hammer  had  fallen  off,  though 
he  had  previously  operated  the  ma- 
chine for  a  number  of  years  at  an  even 
output.  An  inquiry  revealed  troubles 
relating  entirely  to  the  home.  "This 
type  of  incident,"  says  Lee,  "played 
an  important  part  in  the  conclusions 
that  we  reached." 

The  company,  as  was  true  of  Detroit 
automobile  manufacturers  in  general, 
had  been  suffering  from  a  pronounced 
instabihty  of  the  working  force.  De- 
mand for  labor  in  Detroit  in  1912  and 
1913  was  so  keen  that  a  man  who  quit 
a  job  in  the  morning  might  have  em- 
ployment in  another  factory  at  noon. 
There    were    many    men,    generally 


75 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOCRNAL,  VOL.   VI,  NO.   2 


76 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


unmarried  and  of  unsettled  abode, 
taking  jobs  and  abandoning  them 
abrupt!}^  without  explanation  or  notice. 
The  term  "five-day  men"  or  "floaters" 
came  into  conmion  use  to  describe  this 
type  of  undependable  labor.  The 
month  of  December  1912  saw  3594 
such  men  pass  through  the  plant,  and 
March  1913,  5156. 

There  was  an  enormous  labor  turn- 
over. Though  the  average  number  of 
employees  for  1913  has  been  given  as 
14,366,  figures  show  that  50,448  left 
that  year.  It  was  becoming  evident 
from  investigations  that  such  turn- 
over was  an  expensive  indulgence. 
Some  sort  of  plan  that  would  hold  the 
workers  was  badh'  wanted.  It  is  to 
be  remembered,  too,  that  the  Ford 
Company  in  1913  was  actually  paying 
forty-eight  different  hourly  rates.  Xor 
were  these  rates  scientifically  ad- 
justed to  jobs.  There  being  no  plan 
for  advancing  a  man,  promotion  had 
to  wait  on  the  impression  or  goodwill 
of  separate  foremen.  The  result  was 
confusion,  as  the  wide  variety  of  w^age 
rates  and  the  lack  of  standards  of 
comparison  between  man  and  man 
and  department  and  department  made 
it  impossible  for  the  management  to 
grasp  or  follow  the  progress  of  individ- 
ual employees. 

Already  for  a  number  of  years  past 
Ford  had  been  pajing  a  bonus  at  the 
end  of  each  year  on  the  basis  of  years 
of  service.  In  1909  880,000  was  dis- 
tributed in  this  manner,  a  one  year 
man  getting  five  per  cent  of  the  year's 
wage,  a  two  year  man  seven  and  a 
half  per  cent,  and  a  three  year  man 
ten  per  cent.  In  1913  from  8200,000 
to  8300,000  was  paid  out  to  foremen, 
superintendents,    and    other    salaried 


men,  two  hundred  receiving  an  aver- 
age of  81 ,000  each. 

It  was  in  the  year  1913  that  a  com- 
plete reorganization  was  effected.  The 
working  day  was  reduced  from  ten 
hours  to  nine  hours.  Time  studies 
were  made  of  the  mmierous  operations 
in  the  shops  to  get  a  satisfactory  stand- 
ard output.  The  forty-eight  hourly 
rates  were  abohshed  and  eight  rates 
substituted  in  their  place,  as  follows: 
23  cents,  26  cents,  30  cents,  34  cents, 
38  cents,  43  cents,  and  54  cents.  Rates 
paid  to  foremen  and  special  men,  rang- 
ing from  52  cents  to  58  cents  became 
60  cents,  and  those  ranging  from  59  to 
60  cents  became  65  cents.  An  increase 
in  pay  simply  meant  rising  to  the  next 
higher  rate. 

These  changes  together  with  a 
classification  of  the  men  into  six  groups 
with  subclasses  and  corresponding  rates 
made  possible  a  super\ision  of  em- 
ployees by  a  general  employment  de- 
partment. The  foreman  lost  the  pre- 
rogative of  discharging,  though  he 
could  remove  a  man  by  transferring 
him  to  a  different  department.  The 
company  found  that  it  paid  to  give  a 
man  a  second  chance  and  to  place  him 
where  he  would  fit.  Finally  a  plan  for 
automatic  promotion  was  installed. 
A  time  limit  of  six  weeks  was  set  from 
the  time  a  man  was  hired  for  his  pay  to 
increase  from  the  beginner's  rate  to  the 
next  stage  of  fair  workman.  In  case 
he  failed  to  win  such  advance,  his  con- 
dition was  thought  deser\'ing  of  in- 
vestigation. The  advantages  accruing 
to  the  company  from  these  changes 
"gave  rise  to  a  further  consideration  of 
the  human  element,"  and  paved  the 
way  for  the  profit  sharing  plan  of  the 
year  following. 


Levin  :  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


77 


FROM  IMPROVED  ORG.^JN'IZATIOX   TO 
PROFIT   SHARING 

All  indications  point  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  prosperity  the  company 
had  enjoyed,  and  anticipated  lor  the 
year  1914,  was  a  deciding  factor  in  the 
acceptance  of  so  costly  an  innovation. 
Soon  after  the  inauguration  of  the 
plan,  Ford  was  quoted  as  ha\'ing  said, 
"We  have  contemplated  it  for  a  long 
time.  We  were  on  the  point  of  doing 
it  a  year  ago,  and  then  decided  we  had 
better  increase  our  working  capital  in 
order  to  be  absolutely  sure  of  our 
financial  independence."  With  the 
profits  for  the  fiscal  year  1913 
$27,001,202  against  813,552,239  for 
the  year  before,  despite  a  reduction  in 
1913  of  fifty  dollars  in  the  price  of  the 
car,  the  company  could  well  afford  an 
experiment  in  good^vill  invoMng  even 
an  outlay  of  810,000,000.  On  the  day 
after  the  plan  was  announced,  Mr. 
Ford  declared:  "Leaving  the  price  of 
the  car  the  same  this  year  we  wtII  give 
the  men  who  do  the  work  the  850.00." 
At  the  same  time  Mr.  Couzens  re- 
marked: "We  want  those  who  have 
helped  us  to  produce  this  great  in- 
stitution and  are  helping  to  maintain 
it  to  share  our  prosperity." 

What  actually  transpired  in  the 
months  or  days  before  the  plan  was 
given  to  the  world,  it  is  hard  to  say. 
According  to  Dr.  S.  S.  Marquis,  a 
friend  of  Ford's  and  in  charge  of  the 
Educational  Department  of  the  Ford 
Motor  Company  from  1915  to  1920, 
Ford  and  Couzens  agreed  on  an  in- 
crease. "Mr.  Couzens,"  he  writes, 
"dared  him  (Ford)  to  make  the  mini- 
mum pay  five  dollars  a  day  and  Mr. 


Ford  agreed."^  This  \'iew  in  part  at 
least  is  corroborated  by  Mr.  E.  G. 
Pipp,  at  one  time  editor  of  the 
Dearborn  Independent.  Mr.  Pipp 
states  that  he  put  the  question  directly 
to  Ford  as  to  who  was  responsible  for 
the  five  dollar  wage.  Mr.  Ford  an- 
swered that  he  had  "concluded  that 
machinery  was  playing  such  an  im- 
portant part  in  production  that  if  men 
could  be  induced  to  speed  up  machinery, 
there  would  be  more  profit  at  the  high 
wage  than  at  the  low  wage."  In  line 
with  this  thought,  Ford  figured  out  a 
plan  of  increasing  wages  and  put 
the  figures  up  to  Couzens  who  sug- 
gested a  straight  85.00  rate. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  a  man  of 
Ford's  character,  with  his  disdain  of 
precedent  and  penchant  for  sensa- 
tions, should  have  decided  to  digress 
from  the  beaten  path.  Indeed,  a 
company  statement  described  the  plan 
as  "the  greatest  revolution  in  the  mat- 
ter of  rewards  for  its  workers  ever 
known  in  the  industrial  world."  There 
was  much  to  gain  in  plant  efficiency, 
in  the  esteem  of  labor,  in  the  plaudits 
of  an  admiring  public,  even  if  its  plain 
advertising  utility  were  ignored.  Cer- 
tainly there  must  have  been  a  great 
deal  of  pleasure  in  being  able  to  play 
the  role  of  inventor  and  pathfinder  in 
the  field  of  capital-labor  relationships 
as  in  that  of  production,  and  to  say, 
"We  think  that  our  concern  can  make 
a  start  and  create  an  example  for 
others.  And  that  is  our  chief  object. 
.   .   .  ."2     Yet  the  company  was  not 

1  Marquis,  S.  S.  Henry  Ford,  An  Inter- 
pretation.   Boston,  1923.     p.  21. 

^  Detroit  News,  Statement  from  Motor 
Co.,  Jan.  5,  1914,  p.  2.     Dr.  Marquis,  who 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


running  any  risk,  as  it  declared  that 
if  hard  times  should  come,  it  might 
have  to  reduce  or  modify  the  distri- 
bution of  profits.  "But  the  outlook 
now,"  so  an  official  statement  ran, 
"is  such  as  to  justify  this  distribution 
for  the  present  year." 

A   NEW   METHOD    OF    SHARING    PROFITS 

The  plan  was  to  go  into  effect  on 
January  12,  1914.  From  that  day  on, 
Ford  employees  the  world  over  as 
originally  reported,  were  to  get  in  their 
bi-weekly  pay  envelopes,  not  only  their 
regular  wages,  but  their  share  of  an 
expected  profit  roundly  estimated  at 
ten  million  dollars  (half  of  the  expected 
net  profits  for  the  year),  enough  to 
permit  a  minimum  wage  of  five  dollars 
per  day.  In  contradistinction  to  other 
profit  sharing  plans  this  was  payment 
in  advance  of  profits,  the  company 
paying  on  the  assumption  of  prospec- 
tive earnings  and  distributing  profits 
to  its  employees  from  the  beginning 
of  the  year.  Such  sharing,  moreover, 
for  the  year  1914  was  not  absolutely 
contingent  on  the  earning  of  a  definite 
sum  by  the  company.  Nor  were  the 
profits  conditioned  on  output  and 
length  of  service. 

At  the  very  time  that  profit  sharing 
started  on  its  career  the  day's  work 

was  in  charge  of  the  Educational  Depart- 
ment from  1915  to  1920,  informed  the  writer 
that  he  could  recall  the  case  of  only  one  com- 
pany that  attempted  to  install  a  plan  of  this 
sort — the  Timken  Axle  Company  of  Akron 
(to  the  best  of  his  recollection).  The  com- 
panj-  sent  a  representative  who  spent 
several  days  with  Dr.  Marquis.  An  expert 
from  the  Educational  Department  in  turn 
went  to  Akron  and  helped  to  organize  the 
plan.  Within  about  a  year  a  report  came 
that  it  failed. 


was  reduced  from  nine  hours  to  eight 
hours  with  the  same  pay  for  eight 
hours  as  previously  offered  for  nine, 
and  orders  were  given, 

that  no  one  applying  for  work  in  the  future 
should  be  rejected  on  account  of  his  phj^sical 
condition,  excepting  those  suffering  with 
contagious  diseases  endangering  the  health 
of  fellow  emploj'ees;  and  furthermore  that 
no  one  should  be  discharged  on  account  of 
his  physical  condition. 

The  specifications  of  the  plan  were 
by  no  means  simple.  It  was  made  to 
depend  on  age,  sex,  character,  habits 
and  beha\dor,  home  conditions,  mat- 
rimony, dependents,  wage  rating,  and 
later  on  length  of  ser\dce.  It  therefore 
required  a  considerable  staff  of  investi- 
gators (later  called  advisors)  whose 
business  it  was  to  visit  the  homes  of 
the  old  or  newly  hired  employees,  in 
order  to  examine  home  conditions,  to 
find  out  whether  a  man  drinks,  how  he 
spends  his  evenings,  whether  he  has  a 
bank  account,  dependents,  etc.  Such 
outside  investigations,  moreover,  were 
a  check  on  information  secured  in  the 
shop  regarding  age,  marriage,  de- 
pendents, and  money  in  the  bank.  It 
was  necessary  for  the  investigators  to 
report  on  each  employee  to  a  com- 
mittee which  reviewed  the  reports  be- 
fore the  matter  of  cHgibihty  was  finally 
settled. 

At  the  outset  the  privilege  of  parti- 
cipation apphed  to  the  following: 

1.  Men  22  and  over,  married  or  single,  if 

qualified  by  character,  habits,  care  of 
families,  etc. 

2.  Men  below  the  age  of  22,  if  married  or 

if  supporting  widowed  mothers  or 
younger  l:)rothers  and  sisters. 

3.  Women  above  or  l^elow  22  supporting 

families,  endowed  mothers,  younger 
brothers  and  sisters. 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharins; 


79 


On  this  basis  the  excluded  consisted 
of: 

1.  Married  men  not  living  with  or  taking 

care  of  families. 

2.  Single  men  under  the  age  of  22  with  no 

one  to  support. 

3.  Women  of  any  age  with  no  one  to  sup- 

port. 

These  regulations  were  amended 
from  time  to  time  as  the  experience  of 
the  company  grew  or  new  conditions 
developed.  Thus  it  was  soon  laid 
down  that  a  man  had  to  be  a  resident 
of  Detroit  for  six  months  before  being 
ehgible  for  employment  and  that  he 
must  show  six  months  employment 
with  the  company  before  being  eligible 
to  a  share  in  the  profits.  In  July  1919 
this  service  period  seems  to  have 
dropped  to  one  month,  A  $5.00 
minimum  for  women  over  twenty-one 
years  of  age  was  announced  in  October, 
1916,  and  in  the  course  of  time  even 
single  men  of  eighteen  years  ''known 
to  be  living  wholesomely  and  con- 
structively" were  numbered  with  the 
other  qualified  groups. 

As  employees  qualified,  irrespective 
of  the  date  their  cases  were  approved, 
they  became  recipients  of  profit  as  of 
January  12,  1914,  During  the  first 
six  months  69  per  cent  of  the  force 
quahfied.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year 
87  per  cent,  and  by  1916  according  to 
Lee  about  90  per  cent.  However,  a 
record  printed  in  the  Ford  Times 
(October,  1916)  for  the  fiscal  year  end- 
ing July  31,  1916,  indicates  a  percent- 
age of  profit  sharers  for  all  employees 
of  73  and  for  the  Detroit  plant  of  76. 

THE    PROBLEM   OF  ADMINISTRATION 

The  problem  of  administration  was 
not  only  to  decide    who  should  and 


should  not  receive  profits,  but  to  keep 
watch  over  the  unlucky  individuals 
who  were  deemed  unworthy  of  profits. 
These  were  not  discharged,  but  were 
carefully  and  thoroughly  studied  in 
the  hope,  says  Lee, 

that  we  might  bring  them  with  others,  to  a 
realization  of  what  we  were  trying  to  ac- 
complish, and  to  modifications,  changes, 
and  sometimes  complete  revamping  of  their 
lives  and  habits  in  order  that  they  might 
receive  what  the  company  wanted  to  give 
them. 

Even  those  who  qualified  were  placed 
in  different  categories,  as  for  example : 

Those  who  were  firmly  established  in  the 
ways  of  thrift  and  who  would  carry  out  the 
spirit  of  the  plan  themselves; 

Those  who  had  never  had  a  chance  but 
were  willing  to  grasp  the  opportunity; 
Those  in  doubt  as  to  their  strength  of  char- 
acter to  continue  in  the  direction  they  had 
started  in. 

The  last  two  groups  the  investigation 
department  looked  up  from  time  to 
time  "to  strengthen  their  purpose  by 
kindly  suggestion." 

The  payment  of  profits  being 
conditioned  on  proper  hving,  the 
company  deprived  even  the  qualified 
employee  of  his  share  if  he  failed  subse- 
quently to  maintain  the  requisite 
standards.  In  that  case  he  continued 
as  an  employee  at  his  regular  wage 
rate.  It  was  expected,  however,  that 
he  would  make  good  within  a  period 
not  to  exceed  six  months.  If  he  re- 
qualified  at  the  end  of  30  days  he  got 
back  his  share  of  the  profits,  if  at  the 
end  of  60  days — 75  per  cent;  90  days — 
60  per  cent ;  four  months — 40  per  cent ; 
five  months — 25  per  cent.  If  there 
was  no  improvement  at  the  end  of  six 
months,  it  was  deemed  that  the  em- 


80 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


ployee  had  duly  qualified  himself  for 
discharge.  As  to  the  profits  wnthheld, 
''they  were  placed  in  a  special  fund 
and  used  for  worthy  objects  recom- 
mended by  the  Educational  Depart- 
ment and  approved  by  a  special 
committee."^ 

All  told,  then,  the  company  took 
upon  itself  a  huge  sociological  task,  in 
addition  to  its  regular  task  of  turning 
out  prodigious  quantities  of  Ford  cars. 
The  new  department  advisedly  took 
the  appellation  "Sociological  Depart- 
ment," though  the  title  was  later 
changed  to  "Educational  Depart- 
ment." The  company  was  to  be  not 
only  an  employer  of  laborers,  but  also 
a  sort  of  first  friend,  a  foster  father, 
a  critic  of  their  outside  affairs,  their 
conduct  and  ways  of  life.  It  offered 
separate  stipends  to  the  men  in  this 
double  capacity,  so  that  a  man  in  the 
lower  ranks  of  labor  might  receive 
S2.34  per  day  for  working  (this  was 
the  minimum)  and  S2.66  for  living  as 
the  company  wanted  him  to  live.  "In 
the  beginning,"  writes  Ford,  "the  idea 
was  that  there  should  be  a  very  definite 
incentive  to  better  H\ing,  and  that  the 
very  best  incentive  was  a  money  pre- 
mium on  proper  hving."  There  is 
plausibility  too,  in  Ford's  contention 
that  the  thought  of  easy  money  breaks 
down  work,  and  therefore  it  was  neces- 
sary to  exercise  the  sort  of  control 
over  the  men  that  would  assure  proper 
living.  Yet  this  very  statement 
brings  into  rehef  an  inherent  incon- 
gruity-— a  dilemma  ine\ntably  asso- 
ciated with  the  new  scheme.  To  a 
marked  extent  the  reason  for  bestow- 

'  Ford  Motor  Company.  Facts  from 
Ford.  Fourth  Edition.  Highland  Park, 
Mich.,  1920.     p.  59. 


ing  new  benefits  on  the  men  was  the 
desire  to  reduce  turnover,  increase 
efficiency,  and  secure  the  goodwill  and 
loyalty  of  the  personnel.  But  the 
very  methods  de\ased  to  achieve  these 
results  created  new  difficulties^ — the 
fact  that  "too  quickly  raising  a  man's 
pay  sometimes  increases  only  his 
cupidity  and  therefore  decreases  his 
earning  power,"  that  "easy  money 
breaks  down  work."  The  way  out  of 
the  dilemma  was  to  become  guardians 
of  the  private  lives  of  great  hosts  of 
men  and  women,  but  this  in  turn  raised 
the  possibihty  of  antagonizing  the 
working  force,  and  in\'ited  troubles 
incident  to  the  size,  complexity,  and 
expense  of  the  undertaking. 

The  stupendousness  of  the  under- 
taking, form  the  point  of  view  of  size, 
expense,  and  administration,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  moment.  With  14,000  em- 
ployees at  Highland  Park  in  1914,  it 
required  several  dozen  investigators. 
Men  and  women  did  not  belong  merely 
to  six  different  ranks  of  labor,  deter- 
mined by  wage  rates.  Sociologically 
they  had  to  be  fitted  into  a  complex, 
neatly  differentiated  system  of  groups 
and  sub-groups  created  for  the  pur- 
pose. 

1.  Qualified  groups 

Men 

a.  Married 

b.  Single — 22  and  over 

c.  Under  22  with  dependents 
Women  above  or  below  22  with  depend- 
ents 

2.  The  above  groups  disqualified  and  not 

sharing  in  profits  by  virtue  of  improper 

living 
3  and  4.  Profit  sharers  who  need  special 

watching 
5.  Backsliders  deprived  of  their  share  of 

profits.     This  group  as  a  matter  of  fact 

can  be  divided  into  six  subclasses,  e.g., 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharins: 


81 


those  requalif ying  at  the  end  of  30  days, 
60  days,  etc.,  ending  with  those  who 
failed  to  requalify  altogether. 
6.  Young  men  below  the  age  of  22  and  un- 
married. 

Certainly  it  was  an  arduous  task  to 
keep  apprized  of  so  complicated  a 
situation.  With  the  accumulating  du- 
ties of  the  Sociological  Department 
and  the  growing  number  of  employees 
from  year  to  year,  the  carrying  of  the 
non-productive  branch  was  bound  to 
become  formidable. 

W,AGE   RATES   AND    PROFIT  RATES 

Wages  were  based  on  the  old  rates 
multipUed  by  nine  and  applied  to  an 
eight  hour  schedule.  In  other  words 
the  hourly  rate  grew  by  one-eighth. 
There  were  three  grades:  Those 
whose  wages  ranged  from  48  cents 
to  the  level  of  the  salaried  class  re- 
ceived S7.00  per  day;  from  38  cents  to 
and  including  47  cents — $6.00  per  day; 
from  26  cents  to  and  inciudin;;  37 
cents— 35.00  per  day.*  The  profit 
was  simply  added  to  the  regular  wage 
so  that  a  26  cent  man  would  get  $2.34 
in  wages  and  $2.66  in  profit,  totalling 
$5.00.  A  38  cent  man  on  a  similar 
basis  would  get  $3.42  in  wages  and 
$2.58  in  profits,  and  a  43  cent  worker 
$3.97  in  wages  and  $2.03  in  profits. 
The  great  mass  of  workers,  between 
85  and  90  per  cent,  belonged  to  the 
$6.00  class.  But  it  was  still  true  that 
even  in  the  five  dollar  class  those  who 

*  Mr.  Ford  stated  in  1915  in  testimony  be- 
fore the  Federal  Commission  on  Industrial 
Relations,  that  a  man  receiving  54  cents  an 
hour  would  have  a  profit  rate  of  21  cents, 
which  would  give  him  a  daily  income  of 
$6.00.  This  is  SI. 00  less  than  that  reported 
by  the  Ford  Motor  Company  in  a  schedule 
printed  in  "Factory,"  July  1914,  p.  48. 


secured  the  lowest  rates  obtained  the 
largest  percentages  of  profits,  and  con- 
versely those  who  were  earning  higher 
wages,  a  smaller  percentage. 

For  the  qualified  people,  then,  this 
amounted  to  a  conditional  minimum 
wage,  i.e.,  conditional  upon  their  re- 
maining quahfied.  The  underlying 
principle  from  the  wage  standpoint 
was  need  rather  than  the  one  more 
recently  enunciated  by  Ford' — paying 
a  man  what  he  is  worth  as  a  producer.^ 
On  this  assumption  more  was  given  to 
the  unskilled  man  than  to  the  skilled, 
resulting  in  a  standardization  of  wages 
for  the  great  mass  of  workers.  The  old 
system  of  wage  rates  still  functioned 
for  those  not  quahfied  to  get  profits, 
as  for  example  single  men  below  the 
age  of  22,  and  for  profit  receivers  sub- 
sequently disqualified.  Moreover,  the 
maintenance  of  the  wage  rates  fixed 
the  status  of  workers  and  served  as  a 
basis  for  fixing  overtime  rates,  inas- 
much as  the  Ford  Company  then, 
unhke  the  present  pohcy,  paid  150 
per  cent  of  normal  for  overtime. 

It  is  not  clear  that  foreign  plants  in 
England,  France,  or  Canada  were 
sharing  profits,  or  if  sharing  that  the 
profit  rates  corresponded  with  those 
paid  in  the  United  States.  The  Ford 
Times  for  October  1916  gives  the 
Manchester  rates,  (2000  men  em- 
ployed) as  30  to  50  cents  an  hour.  No 
rates  are  mentioned  for  Paris  or  Bor- 
deaux, and  for  the  Canadian  factory 
where  2515  shop  men  were  employed, 
the  rates  were  from  30  cents  to  75 
cents  an  hour.  There  is  no  mention  of 
profits. 

Whatever  else  the  plan  accompHshed 

^  Cf.  Ford  and  Crowther.  My  Life  and 
Work.     Garden  City,  1922.     p.  92 ;  pp.  263 J'. 


82 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


or  failed  to  accomplish,  one  thing  is  cer- 
tain, that  with  dramatic  suddenness 
it  made  Ford  a  world  figure,  and  the 
Ford  Motor  Company  the  object  of 
curious  interest  in  all  Europe  and 
America.  The  skeptical  or  un- 
friendly critics  like  the  London  Spec- 
tator, the  New  York  Times,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Rolling  Mill 
Company,  questioned  or  impugned 
it  on  the  ground  that  extra  pay  was  a 
charitable  gift,  that  it  interfered  with 
the  personal  liberty  of  employees, 
that  it  would  stir  unrest  and  dissatis- 
faction on  the  part  of  wage  earners  in 
the  shops  of  other  companies,  that  it 
would  create  conditions  which  would 
make  it  difficult  for  a  legitimate  enter- 
prise to  earn  fair  dividends  for  its 
stock  holders.  The  Wall  Street  Jour- 
nal spoke  of  Ford  as  having  in  his 
social  endeavor  "committed  economic 
blunders  if  not  crimes,"  and  ventured 
the  prophecy  that  these  "may  return 
to  plague  him  and  the  industry  he 
represents  as  well  as  organized 
society."  It  seems,  however,  that  all 
these  disconcerted  critics  overshot  the 
mark,  and  their  doleful  warnings  were 
quite  uncalled  for.  Their  mistake  was 
that  they  took  Ford's  innovation  too 
seriously  and  overweighed  its  effect 
both  on  the  business  world  and  on 
labor. 

THE  HEYDAY  OF  PROFIT  SHARING 

Dr.  Marquis  has  made  the  remark 
that  Ford's  most  valuable  contri- 
bution to  humanity  thus  far,  has  been 
his  discovery  of  some  very  profitable 
kinds  of  philanthropy.  It  was  claimed 
that  the  profit  sharing  plan  was  not 
only  a  boon  to  the  workers  but  a  source 
of   great   material  advantage   to   the 


company.  This  Mr.  Ford  himself 
.avowed.  "The  pa\Tnent  of  five  dollars 
a  day  for  an  eight  hour  day,"  he  says, 
"was  one  of  the  finest  cost  cutting 
moves  we  ever  made."  The  Educa- 
tional Department  was  even  more 
pronounced  in  its  verdict,  which 
reads: 

The  Ford  Motor  Company  has  found  that 
all  this  investment,  profit  sharing,  factory 
en\aronment,  comfort,  educational  work, 
looked  at  from  the  cold  blooded  point  of 
\-iew  of  business  investment,  is  the  very  best 
investment  it  has  ever  made.  Further,  this 
is  capable  of  such  proof  as  would  be  com- 
petent in  any  court  of  law.* 

Representatives  of  the  company  took 
pains  to  cite  evidence  that  the  material 
fife  of  employees  changed  for  the 
better.  In  savings,  life  insurance, 
ownership  of  homes,  better  housing, 
the  high  minimum  left  its  indelible 
mark.  Also  facts  were  adduced  to 
show  that  under  the  plan  there  was 
a  marked  increase  in  labor  efficiency 
and  in  the  output  of  various  depart- 
ments. 

Even  more  impressive  was  the  de- 
cline in  turnover.  The  average  num- 
ber of  employees  for  1915  is  given  as 
18,892.  Yet  the  company  was  obhged 
to  hire  only  6508  men  that  year,  the 
majority  of  whom  were  taken  on  for 
new  jobs.  Such  was  the  revolution 
accomplished  from  a  turnover  in  1913 
of  about  400  per  cent,  and  to  name  one 
month,  in  November  1912  of  42  per 
cent. 

There  was  a  marked  reduction  in 
absentees.  Mr.  Lee  states  that  the 
daily  absences  declined  from  ten  per 
cent  to  less  than  one-half  of  one  per 

«  Ford  Times,  July  1916,  p.  549. 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


83 


cent  (exclusive  of  times  when  epidem- 
ics of  grippe,  colds,  and  other  human 
ills  prevailed).  The  Ford  Times  for 
July  1916  reported:  "In  the  Ford 
Motor  Company  the  average  (absen- 
tees) won't  reach  one  per  cent  of 
30,€00  men  (per  day)."  In  1917  how- 
ever, absences  had  taken  a  turn  for  the 
worse.  In  August  1917,  7.2  per  cent 
were  absent,  in  April  1918,  6.5  per  cent, 
and  the  best  month  in  the  fiscal  year, 
previous  to  June  1918,  i.e.,  November 
1917,  showed  an  absence  record  of  3.2 
per  cent.  On  March  11,  1918,  4.7 
per  cent  did  not  report  for  work  and 
the  company  paper,  the  Ford  Man, 
several  days  later  uttered  this  com- 
plaint: ''There  are  too  many  em- 
ployees who  stay  away  from  work 
without  good  reasons." 

An  example  of  the  whimsicahties 
the  company  was  given  to  in  those 
days  is  shown  by  a  curious  practice 
in  regard  to  tardiness. 

A  man  late  three  times  in  a  year  without 
good  excuse  is  given  a  hearing  before  an 
impartial  court  in  the  department.  If  it 
appears  that  the  man  was  at  fault  he  is  as- 
sessed from  $10.00  to  $25.00  which  is  given  to 
charity.  Upon  the  next  pay  day  he  is  taken 
in  an  investigator's  car  to  the  house  of  some 
worthy  people  in  need,  to  whom  he,  person- 
ally, hands  over  the  stipulated  amount. 
This  plan  punishes  the  offender,  teaches 
him  the  pleasure  of  giving  and  helps  some 
one  in  need. ^ 

It  is  not  known  whether  Ford  was  con- 
sulted about  this  ingenious  measure, 
nor  whether  he  would  have  been  ill 
disposed  to  it  at  the  time  when  the  cup 
of  goodwill  was  near  overflowing, 
yet  it  seems  disturbingly  out  of  place 
in  the  factory  of  a  man  who  soon  came 

^  Ford  Times,  Jan.  1916,  p.  272. 


to  be  know  as  an  implacable  foe  of 
charity. 

Doubtless  profit  sharing  acted  as  a 
deterrent  to  quitting  or  even  extended 
absence  which  might  lay  one  open  to 
ultimate  discharge.  If  a  man  wished 
to  be  rehired  after  quitting,  he  had  to 
take  his  chance  as  a  new  man.  If  on 
account  of  a  good  record  with  the  com- 
pany he  was  rehired,  his  status  was 
that  of  a  new  man,  even  having  to  bide 
his  time  through  the  regular  waiting 
period  before  sharing  profit. 

i^nother  important  asset  to  the 
company  was  the  system  of  suggestions. 
The  company  wisely  concluded  that 
out  of  the  sum  total  of  endeavors  and 
experiences  of  thousands  of  employees, 
touching  the  most  minute  processes 
incident  to  the  manufacture  of  the 
Ford  car,  some  exceedingly  useful 
suggestions  might  be  had.  Moreover 
the  men  might  be  expected  to  con- 
tribute suggestions  willingly  if  well 
disposed  to  management.  The  com- 
pany, therefore,  sought  to  capture  at 
least  a  considerable  part  of  this  re- 
serve of  special  knowledge  hidden  in 
the  minds  of  the  men  by  placing  boxes 
in  different  locations  in  the  plant, 
carrying  a  supply  of  envelopes  and 
blanks,  by  pubhshing  honor  rolls,  by 
the  incentive  of  promotion,  by  direct 
appeal,  and  subsequently  by  placing 
at  the  disposal  of  the  workers  the  col- 
umns of  the  Ford  Man.  The  last 
proved  a  ready  channel  for  a  flow  of 
suggestions  on  safety,  mechanical  im- 
provements, sanitation,  shop  opera- 
tions, and  even  human  relationships. 
Time  and  again  suggestions  came  in 
that  proved  of  great  value  to  the  com- 
pany, and  acknowledgments  were  fre- 
quently made  of  devices  that  brought 


84 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


about  a  saving  in  stock,  promoted 
safety,  or  increased  production. 

It  appears  that  the  restiveness  of 
the  men  in  1918  interfered  with  the 
operation  of  suggestions.  One  diffi- 
culty was  the  suspicion  that  foremen 
or  subforemen  would  take  the  credit. 
It  was  necessarj^  to  lay  dowTi  some 
rule  to  remedy  this  evil,  and  this  was 
the  rule:  "It  is  asked  of  the  foremen, 
that  when  a  suggestion  reaches  them, 
that  they  take  it  and  the  man  who 
gives  it  directly  to  the  superintendent." 
The  foremen,  too,  were  given  assurance 
that  they  would  benefit  through  sug- 
gestions because  of  larger  records  in 
production,  and  would  derive  personal 
benefits  where  the  men  turned  in  the 
largest  number  of  suggestions. 

Of  no  slight  importance  was  the  ad- 
vance in  safety  administration  and  the 
reduction  in  accidents.  The  depart- 
ment was  established  in  1914.  By 
January  1917  it  had  seventeen  in- 
spectors looking  after  grinders,  punch 
presses,  cranes,  elevators,  monorail 
cars,  new  machines,  etc.  In  that 
month  the  company  was  able  to  make 
the  boast  that  in  the  past  year  Ford 
accidents  had  decreased  80  per  cent 
in  the  face  of  a  100  per  cent  gain  in  the 
number  of  employees.  On  May  17, 
1918,  a  Ford  pubhcation  claimed  that 
in  the  past  eighteen  months,  the  Ford 
company  had  established 

what  may  be  considered  without  fear  of  con- 
tradiction, two  new  world's  records,  along 
lines  of  accident  reduction:  1.  Reduction 
of  lost  time  accidents,  74.2  per  cent. 
2.  Eleven  months  without  fatal  accident; 
first  fatality  in  almost  a  year  on  April  20, 
1918. 

Such,  then,  were  some  of  the  bene- 
fits the  company  was  enjoying.     And 


profits  were  enormous.  For  the  ten 
months  ending  July  31,  1915,  they 
were  $23,426,661.53,  and  for  the  next 
fiscal  year  $57,056,428.85,  despite  its 
f  ree-handedness  in  the  matter  of  wages. 
With  regard  to  this  fiscal  year  (ending 
July  31,  1916)  Ford  said: 

Our  statement  shows  whether  it  (profit 
sharing)  has  worked  or  not.  It  shows  that 
we  have  made  a  profit  of  about  ?60.000,000 
and  at  the  same  time  have  paid  our  men 
the  very  highest  industrial  wages. 

WELFARE   AND   GET-TOGETHER 

It  must  be  remembered  that  profit 
sharing  interlaced  with  a  variety  of 
services  gratuitously  offered  to  em- 
ployees. The  period  from  1914  to 
1918  may  perhaps  be  designated  as 
"the  era  of  good  feeling,"  when  the 
ministrations  of  the  company  for  the 
weal  of  the  working  force  grew  to 
an  unprecedented  abundance.  The 
schools  came  into  existence.  There 
was  the  English  School  starting  in 
May  1914,  the  Apprentice  School  to 
instruct  workmen  in  toolmaking,  the 
Henry  Ford  Trade  School,  opening  in 
October  1916,  and  enrolling  boys  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  for  both  academic 
and  industrial  training,  and  the  Ser- 
vice School,  organized  January  1, 
1918,  to  train  mechanics  who  came 
from  Ford  dealers  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  Ford  car  and  tractor,  and  to  give 
instruction  to  foreign  students  in 
Ford  methods  and  products  so  as  to 
fit  them  to  become  service  executives 
or  to  hold  responsible  positions  in  the 
foreign  field. 

The  EngUsh  School  began  shortly 
after  the  inauguration  of  profit  shar- 
ing, with  one  teacher  and  twenty 
pupils.     In  June  1916  the  enrollment 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


85 


reached  2500,  including  300  Americans 
studying  mathematics,  oratory,  and 
psychology.  By  December  of  that 
year  the  enrollment  had  mounted  to 
2700,  with  163  volunteer  teachers, 
all  employees  of  the  company.  The 
school  gave  foreigners  instruction  in 
reading,  writing,  and  speaking  simple 
EngHsh,  the  work  arranged  in  72  lesr 
sons  completed  in  36  weeks.  The 
reading  concerned  itself  with  such 
matters  as  "care  of  body,  bathing, 
clean  teeth,  daily  helps  in  and  about 
the  factory,  including  safety  first  and 
first  aid,  matters  of  civil  government 
of  state  and  nation,  how  to  obtain 
citizenship  papers,  etc."  It  offered 
a  diploma  to  its  graduates  signed  by 
officers  of  the  company  and  the  Edu- 
cational Department,  which  was  also 
accepted  by  the  United  States  district 
officials  at  Detroit  as  entitling  holders 
to  first  papers  without  further  exam- 
ination. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Ford 
English  School  and  Trade  School 
constituted  the  most  constructive 
achievements  of  the  Ford  Motor  Com- 
pany or  the  Educational  Department 
of  the  company  during  this  period. 
The  English  School,  abandoned  about 
1922,  more  than  justified  its  existence. 
The  company  succeeded,  by  strict 
measures,  in  making  the  EngUsh 
School  reach  out  to  great  numbers  of 
the  foreign  workmen  who  needed  its 
help.  In  1919  thirty-eight  employees 
were  discharged  because  of  their  re- 
fusal to  learn  Enghsh.  It  was  ex- 
pected of  workers  and  foremen  that 
the  names  and  numbers  of  all  men, 
unable  to  speak,  read,  and  write 
Enghsh,  should  be  sent  in  to  the 
school. 

In  the  companionship  of  these  insti- 


tutions, one  must  not  fail  to  mention 
the  Medical  Department  and  the  Legal 
Aid  Department.  The  Medical  De- 
partment by  1920  was 

a  tv/enty  room  institution,  including  a 
modern  operating  room,  a  six  bed  ward  and 
annex,  a  laboratory,  an  X-ray  department, 
a  two  chair  dental  office,  a  pharmacy  and 
dispensary,  large  waiting  and  examining 
rooms,  etc. 

The  staff  included  a  surgeon-in-chief, 
operating  surgeon,  roentgenologist, 
specialist  in  tuberculosis,  eye  and  ear 
specialist,  nose  and  throat  speciaUst, 
specialist  in  skin  and  other  diseases, 
two  dentists,  a  bacteriologist,  two 
pharmacists,  an  anesthetist,  and  96 
first  aid  men  and  clerks. 

In  August  1917  the  Legal  Aid  De- 
partment consisted  of  four  attorneys 
and  one  member  who  speciahzed  in 
real  estate  appraisals  and  in  building 
and  contracting  matters.  The  de- 
partment offered  advice  and  assist- 
ance free  of  charge  in  all  matters 
involving  legal  questions,  insurance, 
investments,  settlements  of  disputes, 
purchase  of  real  estate,  and  filling  out 
and  securing  naturalization  papers. 
In  the  month  specified  2915  employ- 
ees took  various  problems  and  troubles 
to  the  department.  There  were  53 
appraisals,  i.e.,  property  was  examined 
and  opinions  rendered  as  to  its  value 
and  condition,  abstracts  were  ex- 
amined, contracts  signed,  and  deeds 
executed.  (The  company  did  not 
handle  all  abstracts  presented  for 
examination.)  There  were  227  gar- 
nishment cases  and  in  this  connection 
40  appearances  in  court  for  employees. 
Thirty-seven  were  aided  in  obtaining 
citizenship  papers.  The  department 
also  assisted  thousands  of  Ford  men 
from  December  18,  1917  to  January 


86 


Levin:  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


17,  1918,  in  making  out  questionnaires 
in  connection  with  the  national  selec- 
tive draft,  and  offered  employees  ad- 
vice in  regard  to  the  making  out  of  in- 
come tax  returns.  The  benevolent 
motivation  behind  this  department  is 
sho^^^l  further  in  these  words:  "If  an 
employee  through  sickness  or  unfore- 
seen circumstances  is  unable  to  meet 
pajTnent  on  the  First  Liberty  Loan, 
the  factory  legal  department  will  help." 
In  the  period  1918-1920  the  good 
fellowship  impulse  seems  to  have 
reached  its  greatest  height.  Clubs, 
get-togethers,  entertainments,  and 
dances  fill  the  stage.  We  hear  of  the 
activities  of  a  Ford  Bowling  League,  a 
Ford  Billiard  League,  a  River  Rouge 
Gun  Club,  a  Ford  Eagle  Athletic 
Club,  a  Ford  Male  Chorus,  and  a 
nascent  organization  "of  young  women 
from  the  factory  and  men  whose  musi- 
cal education  is  not  quite  up  to  stand- 
ard for  the  chorus."  The  old  Ford 
Band,  organized  in  1911,  offers  its 
regular  concerts  of  "half  classical  and 
half  popular  music,"  which  the  em- 
ployees and  their  families  may  attend 
free  of  charge.  The  Athletic  Club 
gives  a  dance  which  is  attended  by  the 
Rouge  officials  and  their  wives.  A 
carnival  dance  is  given  by  the  em- 
ployees of  the  blast  furnace,  and  the 
Hot  Blast  Orchestra  we  are  told 
"tuned  up  and  let  go."  The  men  of 
the  "W"  building  hold  a  get-together 
banquet,  and  the  colored  employees  of 
F-1  department  in  the  foundry  hold  a 
get-together  picnic,  marked  by  feats  of 
skill,  games,  and  joy-making  antics, 
and  honored  by  the  attendance  of 
several  of  their  foremen.*  There  is  a 
Transmission  Parts  Department  en- 
tertainment, one  of  the  Pressed  Steel 
Tool  Department,  and  one  of  the 
8  Ford  Man,  July  17,  1920. 


Triple  Gear  Department.  There  are 
"Wednesday  evening  get-together 
entertainments  for  Ford  men  and 
families  held  in  the  school  auditorium 
under  the  direction  of  the  Department 
of  Safety  and  Hygiene,"  and  we  learn 
that  one  night  had  been  given  over  to 
the  Drop  Forge  and  Heat  Treat  De- 
partments, and  that  a  section  of  the 
entertainment  was  furnished  by  their 
own  entertainers,  including  the  Heat 
Treat  Darky  Quartet. 

Company  stores  started  out  with  a 
cash  and  carrj''  store  opened  at  High- 
land Park  on  December  2, 1919.  Their 
purpose  was  to  give  the  most  practical 
help  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  "big 
Ford  family."  The  stores  sold  gro- 
ceries, drugs,  meat,  shoes,  pillow  cases, 
bed  sheets,  student  suppUes,  ready 
made  clothes,  tailoring  patterns  and  a 
great  many  other  necessary  things. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this,  the  Ford 
editorial  writers  did  not  miss  the  op- 
portunity to  drive  home  the  moral. 

In  all  the  annals  of  industry  there  is  no 
other  organization  like  that  of  the  Ford 
Motor  Company.  Nowhere  else  are  the 
conditions  which  surround  labor  so  delight- 
fully huniane  as  here,  nowhere  else  is  labor 
rewarded  as  practically  as  here,  nowhere 
else  are  matters  so  freely  in  charge  of  the 
employees  as  here.' 


Such  dispensations  are  typical, 
other  example  is  the  following: 


An- 


It  has  been  the  desire  of  the  Ford  Motor 
Company  to  have  an  ideal  factory  organiza- 
tion where  each  worker  was  not  only  satis- 
fied with  his  leader  and  the  all  round  en- 
vironment of  his  work ;  where  each  emploj  ee 
understood  the  policies  of  the  company  and 
was  enjoying  labor  in  an  atmosphere  thickly 
charged  with  the  spirit  of  help  the  other 
fellow. 

(Manuscript  received  April  SO,  1927.) 
"Ford  Man.  Jan.  3.  1919. 


Iron  Men  for  Iron  Ships 

By  Commander  D.  E.  Ctjmmings,  United  States  Navy 

Of  the  separations  from  the  United  States  Navy  for  1923  about 
32  per  cent  were  by  desertion  and  34  per  cent  by  other  means  which 
did  not  benefit  the  Navy.  With  an  enlisted  force  of  86,000, 
courts-martial  were  at  the  rate  of  18,000  a  year. 
This  condition  has  been  improved  by  making  Navy  life  more  at- 
tractive and  by  obtaining  men  who  are  better  able  to  adapt 
themselves  to  it.  Scores  in  an  intelligence  test  were  positively 
related  to  fitness  for  Navy  life  and  negatively  related  to  delin- 
quencies. 

With  the  presentation  of  these  and  other  related  facts  Commander 
Cummings  shows  the  falsity  of  some  of  the  popular  notions  of 
what  the  present  day  Navy  demands  of  its  men. 


IT  IS  recorded  of  a  famous  admiral 
who  lived  to  see  sails  give  way  to 
steam,  and  wooden  ships  to  those 
of  iron  and  steel,  that  he  expressed  his 
distaste  for  the  new  order  in  these 
words,  "Formerly  the  Navy  had 
wooden  ships  and  iron  men,  now  it  has 
iron  ships  and  wooden  men." 

Unhke  his  predecessor,  the  modern 
Navy  man  is  drawm  from  the  youth, 
largely  of  inland  states,  and  is  not  a 
professional  mariner.  He  comes  from 
the  freedom  of  an  American  home  into 
a  life  that  is  inherently  artificial,  a 
life  that  removes  him  from  many  of 
the  normal  contacts  to  which  he  has 
been  accustomed  and  substitutes 
wholly  different  ones,  that  imposes 
upon  him  an  unaccustomed  discipline, 
a  regulation  and  close  supervision  over, 
not  merely  his  work,  but  his  eating, 
his  sleeping,  his  clothing,  his  recrea- 
tion,    and     even     his     conversation. 


Under  the  stress  of  these  new  and 
irksome  restrictions,  he  is  called  upon 
to  work  hard,  to  keep  unaccustomed 
hours,  to  be  at  the  constant  beck  and 
call  of  his  official  superiors,  and  to 
quaUfy  as  a  skilful  and  responsible 
member  of  a  very  complicated  fighting 
organization.  The  ultimate  result  of 
the  process  is  a  great  development  of 
the  man  as  an  efficient  social  unit ;  but 
it  tries  his  metal  severely.  If  he  has 
not  the  necessary  character  basis  he 
will  not  be  able  to  keep  up  with  the 
procession. 

In  1923  the  number  of  men  who 
were  unable  to  adapt  themselves  to  the 
Navy  life  had  grown  to  excessive  pro- 
portions. Evidences  of  this  fact  were 
found  in  the  high  percentages  of  de- 
serters and  of  disciplinary  offenders. 
Of  the  separations  from  the  Navy, 
31.6  per  cent  were  by  desertion,  33.8 
per  cent  by  other  means  which  did  not 


87 


88 


CuMMiNGs:  Iron  ^len  for  Iron  Ships 


benefit  the  Navy,  and  only  44.6  per 
cent  by  honorable  discharge  or  transfer 
to  the  Fleet  Reserve.  The  turnover 
had  risen  to  over  twice  what  it  would 
have  been  had  all  men  duly  completed 
their  contracts.  Courts-martial  of 
various  classes  were  at  the  rate  of 
18,000  a  year,  with  an  elisted  force  of 
86,000.  These  indicated  a  very  ser- 
ious situation  calling  for  betterment. 
Too  many  of  our  men  were  not  able 
to  adapt  themselves  to  the  conditions 
of  life  in  the  Navy. 

Two  remedies  appeared:  First,  to 
adapt  Navy  hfe  to  these  men;  second, 
to  obtain  other  men  more  able  to  adapt 
themselves  to  Navy  life.  Both  of 
these  remedies  were  appHed,  with  the 
result  that  conditions  have  been 
greatly  improved,  desertions  have 
dropped  to  a  minimum,  and  reports 
from  the  Fleet  show  a  much  higher 
quality  of  recruits. 

TEST    SCORES    AND    FITNESS    FOR 
NAVY  LIFE 

In  examining  the  causes  of  the  un- 
favorable situation,  an  investigation 
was  made  to  determine  what  relation, 
if  any,  general  intelligence  as  indicated 
by  a  typical  psychological  test  bore  to 
the  ability  or  inability  to  make  good  in 
the  Navy.  For  this  investigation,  the 
O'Rourke  General  Classification  Test 
prepared  by  Dr.  L.  J.  O'Rourke,  now 
Director  of  Research  of  the  United 
States  Civil  Service  Commission,  was 
used  by  the  Bureau  of  Navigation, 
which  is  the  Naval  Bureau  charged 
with  personnel  matters. 

In  considering  the  use  of  tests  as  an 
indication  of  general  fitness  for  life  in 
the  Navy  it  must  be  recognized  that  the 
Navy  offers  many  advantages  as  a 
laboratory    for     the     study    of  such 


matters.  For  example,  there  is  a  con- 
stant influx  of  men,  most  of  whom  are 
approximately  of  the  same  age  and 
who  are  representative  of  the  whole 
country,  selected  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  eliminate  as  far  as  possible  the 
physically  unfit  and  those  of  deter- 
minable bad  character,  together  with 
the  illiterates.  These  men  undergo, 
upon  admission,  a  standard  course  of 
training  under  similar  conditions  for 
periods  of  four  months.  The  tests  are 
given  under  standardized  conditions 
during  this  training  period  and  before 
their  service  character  has  been  de- 
veloped. Complete  individual  records 
of  the  advancements  and  the  delin- 
quencies of  these  men  are  kept  and 
these  records  are  available  at  any 
time  for  examination  by  officials  in 
the  Bureau  of  Navigation.  Thus 
many  things  contribute  toward  making 
the  Navy  a  good  personnel  experi- 
mental laboratory. 

Other  conditions,  how'ever,  are  not 
so  favoral^le  from  a  laboratory  point 
of  view.  Upon  completion  of  training 
the  men  are  sent  to  ships  whose  charac- 
teristics differ  widely;  some  are  large 
and  comfortable,  others  are  small  and 
very  uncomfortable,  some  are 
stationed  in  interesting  foreign  ports, 
others  in  uninteresting  places,  some 
require  a  routine  of  widely  varying, 
strenuous,  trying  work,  while  others 
are  engaged  in  work  of  a  very  constant 
and  not  very  strenuous  character.  In 
the  same  ships  some  men  work  regular 
hours  at  the  same  work  every  day, 
while  others  work  at  irregular  hours 
and  are  subject  to  constant  interrup- 
tions. Conditions  are  like  those  which 
would  result  if  all  the  barber  shops, 
caf(5s,  railroad  stations,  business 
houses,  courts  of  law,  churches,  thea- 


CuMMiNGS:  Iron  Men  for  Iron  Ships 


89 


tres,  and  other  activities  of  a  small 
city  were  thrown  together  in  the  space 
of  one  building,  which  also  served  as 
the  sleeping  and  recreation  space  for 
all  those  who  work  in  the  building. 
Add  to  this  the  fact  that  many  of  the 


tion  of  tests  with  success  in  Navy  life 
of  value  only  after  a  very  large  number 
of  observations  have  been  recorded. 

Upon  starting  to  investigate  the 
relationship  between  tests  and  per- 
formance, certain  material  was  found 


DESERTEfiS    SCORED^     RECRUIT5    IN  GENERAL    StoRED  ^ 


Fig.  1.  Percentage  Distribution  of  Intelligence  Test  Scores  of  500  Deserters 
AND  2000  Recruits  in  General,  United  States  Navy 


activities  are  operative  night  and  day, 
and  that  all  of  the  men  present  are 
called  upon  night  and  day  at  times, 
and  it  will  be  realized  that  the  life 
while  interesting  is  sometimes  very 
trying,  and  that  it  is  so  varied  as  to 
render  any  results  such  as  the  correla- 


to  be  already  on  hand.  The  first  step 
in  the  investigation  consisted  in  com- 
paring the  tests  of  a  group  of  men  who 
had  failed  to  make  good  with  those  of 
a  group  who  were  representative  of  the 
whole  body  of  recruits.  For  this  pur- 
pose   there    were    available    the    test 


90 


CuMMiNGS:  Iron  ]\Ien  for  Iron  Ships 


results  of  about  500  men  who  had 
deserted  and  been  apprehended;  and 
of  about  2000  recruits.  A  graph  of  the 
result  of  this  comparison  is  shown  in 
figure  1. 

From  this  figure  it  appears  that  the 
curve  of  scores  of  deserters  is  con- 
sistently lower  than  that  of  recruits. 
Comparing  the  scores  of  a  hundred 
deserters  with  those  of  a  hundred 
recruits,  it  will  be  noted  that  in  the 
lowest  bracket,  those  making  from  0  to 
10,  there  are  2|  times  as  many  de- 
serters as  general  recruits,  in  the 
next  bracket,  2|,  etc.,  while  in  the 
highest  bracket  only  one-seventh  as 
many  deserters  are  found  as  general 
recruits,  in  the  next  highest  half  as 
many,  and  so  on.  From  this  it  would 
appear  that,  if  no  men  making  lower 
than  30  on  this  test  were  enlisted,  22 
per  cent  of  deserters  would  be  elim- 
inated and  only  11  per  cent  of  men 
who  did  not  desert. 

It  is  notable  that  the  curve  of 
deserters  has  two  peaks.  This  same 
phenomenon  appears  on  other  curves 
of  undesirables.  A  knowledge  of  the 
service  suggests  a  possible  reason  for 
this,  namely,  that  the  deserters  and 
other  undesirables  are  of  two  classes, 
one  of  which  is  made  up  of  those  who 
are  unable  to  keep  up  the  pace  by 
reason  of  inferiority  of  a  kind  measured 
by  the  test,  and  the  other  of  those 
who,  irrespective  of  such  inferiority, 
are  temperamentally  unable  to  adapt 
themselves. 

A  consideration  of  the  data  on  which 
figure  1  is  based  led  to  the  conclusion 
that,  under  the  conditions  existing  at 
the  time,  there  was  a  relation  between 
delinquency  as  evidenced  by  desertion 
and  intelligence  as  indicated  by  the 


General  Classification  Test.  Further 
study  of  this  relation  was  indicated 
to  determine:  (a)  Whether  this  rela- 
tion always  existed;  (b)  whether  a 
similar  relation  existed  between  other 
delinquencies  and  test  results;  and 
(c)  of  what  the  relationship  consisted. 
To  determine  whether  this  relation 
always  existed  it  was  decided  to  test 
all  recruits  shortly  after  enlistment,  in 
order  that  examination  of  the  records 
of  representative  groups  might  be 
made  from  time  to  time,  and  the  rela- 
tion of  the  tests  to  their  records  in 
service  determined.  This  process  has 
been  going  on  for  about  a  year,  dur- 
ing which  conditions  have  been  so 
different  that  the  percentage  of  delin- 
quencies has  been  greatly  decreased; 
and  not  enough  data  have  accumu- 
lated to  warrant  further  remarks  on 
this  score. 

TEST  SCORES  AND  DELINQUENCIES 

To  determine  whether  a  similar 
relation  existed  between  test  results 
and  all  delinquencies  including  deser- 
tion, examination  was  made  of  the 
records  of  1000  men  who  had  been 
tested  as  recruits  and  who  had  been  in 
the  service  for  a  year.  These  records 
were  grouped  in  accordance  with  test 
scores;  all  men  testing  from  0  to  10 
being  in  one  group,  those  testing  from 
11  to  20  in  the  next,  and  so  on.  The 
percentage  of  delinquents  in  each 
group  was  then  figured,  and  the  results 
plotted.  In  figure  2  these  results  are 
shown  by  the  portion  of  the  graph 
ex-tending  below  the  base  line.  It  will 
be  noted  that  the  largest  percentage  of 
delinquents  belongs  in  the  lowest  test 
group,  and  the  smallest  percentage  in 
the    highest    test    group;    and    that 


CuMMiNGs:  Iron  Men  for  Iron  Ships 


91 


the  percentages  in  the  other  groups 
progress  fairly  uniformly  between 
these  extremes.  There  appears  there- 
fore to  be  a  definite  relation  between 
test  scores  and  the  delinquencies  con- 


in  the  higher  groups.  In  this  graph, 
the  groups  above  the  line  represent 
those  who  have  been  promoted  or  who 
have  otherwise  evidenced  their  useful- 
ness.    The   very   sharp   and   definite 


PER  CENT 
OF  £ach  class 
PROMOTED 


SCORES   ON  TEST 


5 

PER  CENT 

OF  EACH  CLASS  '5 

LOST  20 

(»r  BtStKnoM,  3.CB, 
wtesattete  jkcmmu,     j  S 

30 
35 

40 


27% 


151 


m 


IW. 


72^ 


w. 


zB 


342 


Fig.  2.  Change  in  Status  during  First  Year  of  1000  Enlisted  Men  of  the  United 

States  Navy,  Classed  according  to  Scores  in  the  O'Rourke  General 

Classification  Test 


sidered  in  making  up  the  graph.  It 
might  be  expected  that  if  delinquen- 
cies were  more  frequent  among  the 
lower  groups,  the  converse  would  also 
be  true,  and  successes  would  be  found 


relationship  between  test  results  and 
success  corroborates  strongly  the  de- 
duction drawn  from  the  curve  of  non- 
success  below  the  line. 

Just  what  is  the  nature  of  the  rela- 


92 


CuMMiNGs:  Iron  ]\len  for  Iron  Ships 


tionship  between  delinquency  and  test 
results?  The  question  is  not  easy  to 
answer.  The  above  investigations 
show  that,  under  the  conditions  which 
obtained,  the  delinquents  were  rela- 
tively more  numerous  among  low  test 
men,  and  the  men  who  forged  to  the 
front  were  decidedly  more  numerous 
among  high  test  men.  "Was  this  due 
to  native  intelligence  or  to  schooling? 
The  question  is  of  some  importance. 
The  evidence  bearing  on  the  subject 
is,  at  present,  meager.  For  several 
months  the  test  scores  of  the  groups  of 
recruits  received  each  month  have  been 
compared  with  the  length  of  their 
schooling.  The  result  of  these  com- 
parisons shows  that  a  close  corre- 
spondence exists  between  length  of 
schooling  and  test  results.  This  cor- 
respondence is  found  to  hold  among 
the  recruits  obtained  each  month, 
and  among  those  from  each  of  the 
recruiting  districts  throughout  the 
country.  That  is  to  say,  the  test  cor- 
relates with  ability  to  get  along  at 
school,  just  as  it  correlates  with  abihty 
to  advance  in  the  Navy,  and  inversely 
with  delinquency  in  the  Navy. 

That  this  should  be  so  will  not 
surprise  one  who  is  informed  of  the 
large  amount  of  highly  technical  work 
which  Naval  enhsted  men  are  called 
upon  to  perform.  The  Bureau  of 
Navigation's  Manual  now  requires  for 
admission  to  certain  schools  for  en- 
listed men,  such  prerequisites  as 
physics,  algebra,  plane  geometry,  his- 
tory, geography,  composition;  and  for 
advancement  in  rating,  ability  to  do 
such   things  as  aligning  turret   guns 


and  sights,  handling  requisitions  and 
surveys,  handling  the  most  varied, 
complex,  and  delicate  mechanisms, 
machine  shop  work,  handling  men, 
figuring  of  baUistic  corrections,  han- 
dling radio  communications  and  ma- 
terial, stationing  and  drilling  plotting 
room  crew  or  turret  crew',  and  in- 
numerable other  things  requiring 
greater  intelligence,  initiative,  respon- 
sibility, and  education  than  was  re- 
quired of  the  men  of  former  days. 

The  difficult  requirements  of  present 
day  Naval  activities  correspond,  but 
in  more  intensive  degree,  with  the  in- 
creased complication  of  present  day 
life  ashore.  The  need  ashore  has  been 
met  by  a  growth  of  the  school  popula- 
tion, especially  those  in  High  Schools 
and  Technical  High  Schools.  "While 
the  population  of  the  United  States 
increased  about  75  per  cent  between 
1890  and  1922,  college  enrollment  in- 
creased nearly  350  per  cent  and  high 
school  enrollment  over  600  per  cent. 
The  Navy  needs  to  take  full  advantage 
of  those  schooling  facilities  which  serve 
to  add  to  the  ability  of  young  men  to 
cope  with  these  complexities.  Those 
who  have  shown  the  ability  that  the 
Navy  needs  are  available  in  ever  in- 
creasing numbers.  The  Navy  has  but 
to  seek  them  and  make  the  conditions 
attractive  enough  to  justify  their  en- 
listment, and  progress  in  this  respect 
is  being  made. 

Iron  men,  not  wooden  men,  are 
required  to  operate  the  Navy  of 
today. 

(Manuscript  received  October  21,  1926.) 


Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 

By  E.  G.  Stoy,  Institute  for  Juvenile  Research,  Chicago 

Can  success  in  mechanical  drawing  be  predicted  through  the  use 
of  aptitude  tests?  Mr.  Stoy's  investigation  of  this  subject  is 
being  continued  with  additional  tests,  larger  groups,  and  a  better 
criterion.  Judging  by  the  preliminary  results  presented  here, 
we  may  confidently  expect  the  completed  study  to  bring  selection 
and  guidance  for  one  more  occupation  under  the  wing  of  exact 
scientific  methods. 

A  series  of  tests  was  given  in  two  high  schools  to  groups  of  students 
differentiated  on  the  basis  of  promise  or  lack  of  promise  in  mechanical 
drawing.  The  criterion  of  promise  was  the  judgment  of  the  teachers 
supplemented  by  a  practical  mechanical  drawing  test.  Use  was  made 
of  thirteen  separate  aptitude  tests,  concerned  with  spatial  relations, 
motihty,  and  mechanical  ingenuity.  Six  of  these  revealed  significant 
group  differences  between  promising  and  unpromising  students:  Thur- 
stone- Jones  Problem  4  (Paper  Folding),  Minnesota  Paper  Form  Board, 
Downey  Group  Test  V  (Coordination  of  Impulses),  Downey  Group 
Test  VIII  (Flexibility),  Painted  Cube  Test,  and  Freeman  Puzzle  Box. 


THE  Institute  for  Juvenile  Re- 
search in  Chicago  maintains  a 
vocational  guidance  service,  in 
connection  with  its  cUnic  for  children 

1  This  is  one  of  a  series  of  articles  pub- 
ished  by  members  of  the  staff  of  the  Illinois 
Institute  for  Juvenile  Research,  Dr.  Herman 
M.  Adler,  Director.  Series  C,  Number  109. 
The  writer  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Luton  Ack- 
erson,  Research  Psychologist  at  the  Insti- 
tute, for  assistance  in  the  analysis  of  results 
and  preparation  of  the  manuscript  and  to 
Miss  Margaret  O'Connor  for  assistance  in 
the  computations.  The  writer  is  indebted 
also  to  Mr.  William  J.  Bogan,  Assistant 
Superintendent  of  Chicago  Public  Schools, 
Mr.  Grant  Beebe,  Principal  of  Lane  Tech- 
nical High  School,  Mr.  R.  C.  Faubell,  Head 
of  the  Department  of  Mechanical  Drawing 
at  Lane  Technical  High  School,  Mr.  Walter 
J.  narrower,  Principal,  and  Miss  Opal 
Daniel,   Vocational  Counsellor  at  Harper 


who  present  problem  or  behavior  cases. 
These  children  come  from  all  classes  of 
society,    but   the   majority   represent 

Junior  High  School,  and  the  mechanical 
drawing  instructors  at  these  schools,  for  the 
many  courtesies  extended  during  this  study. 
The  writer  wishes  to  thank  also  Dr.  Frank 
N.  Freeman,  Professor  of  Educational  Psy- 
chology at  the  University  of  Chicago,  for  the 
use  of  several  sets  of  his  apparatus;  Mr.  L. 
Dewey  Anderson,  Chief  Investigator  on  the 
Mechanical  Abilities  Project  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Minnesota,  for  material  and  assist- 
ance in  the  use  of  the  ^linnesota  Paper  Form 
Board;  Dr.  Walter  B.  Jones,  Professor  of 
Vocational  Education  at  the  University  of 
Pittsburgh,  for  materials  used  in  the  Thur- 
stone-Jones  Spatial  Relations  Examination; 
and  Dr.  D.  W.  Castle,  Vocational  Director 
at  the  Joliet  Township  High  School  and 
Junior  College,  for  materials  and  assistance 
in  constructing  the  criterion  test. 


93 


94 


Stoy:  Tests  for  ^Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


cases  referred  by  a  number  of  Illinois 
charitable  institutions.  Myrtle  Ray- 
maker  Worthington,  in  charge  of  this 
service,  is  interested  in  the  develop- 
ment of  aptitude  tests  for  occupations 
into  which  youngsters  of  high  school 
age  may  be  guided,  to  start  work  at  or 
near  the  apprentice  level.  This  study 
is  one  of  several  which  are  being  di- 
rected by  Professor  L.  L.  Thurstone, 
of  the  Senior  Staff  at  the  Institute, 
under  the  Behavior  Research  Fund. 

If  the  proper  predictive  methods 
can  be  developed,  drafting  will  make 
a  good  outlet  for  many  of  these  cases. 
There  are  several  levels  in  the  occupa- 
tion, the  lower  ones  of  which  require 
little  technical  and  cultural  back- 
ground. One  may  advance  with  ex- 
perience and  the  help  of  night  school 
courses.  The  openings  in  this  occu- 
pation are  many  and  varied,  furnish- 
ing one  skiUed  in  mechanical,  struc- 
tural, or  architectural  drafting  an 
opportunity  to  select  his  job  on  the 
basis  of  geographical  location,  size  of 
community,  kind  of  industry,  size  of 
company,  and  other  factors  equally 
important  to  the  job  hunter. 

THE   PROBLEM 

We  are  concerned  with  finding  tests 
which  will  differentiate  individuals 
with  aptitude  for  mechanical  drawing 
from  those  without  this  aptitude.  In 
order  to  obtain  a  well-rounded  pro- 
gram we  made  a  prehminary  search 
of  the  Uterature  on  the  subject  and 
selected  from  a  number  of  possible 
tests  enough  promising  ones  to  con- 
sume about  five  class  periods  of  a  high 
school  student's  time.  High  school 
students  were  used  in  the  study  in 
order   to    obtain    a    large   unselected 


group  with  equal  experience  on  the 
drawing  board.  In  time  we  hope  to 
make  similar  investigations  of  other 
tests.  The  tests  which  several  of  these 
investigations  indicate  as  valid  we  shall 
incorporate  into  a  single  battery  for  a 
final  study  in  w^hich  a  random  sample 
will  be  used  instead  of  two  differen- 
tiated groups.  Thus,  in  time,  we  hope 
to  be  able  to  predict  probable  success 
in  drafting  by  means  of  vocational 
guidance  tests. 

THE    TESTS 

We  chose  for  use  in  this  first  project, 
carried  out  in  the  spring  of  1926,  three 
group  tests  and  three  individual  tests, 
all  of  which  are  concerned  with  ability 
to  deal  with  spatial  relations,  with 
motility,  or  with  mechanical  ingenuity. 
The  group  tests  were: 

1.  Minnesota  Paper  Form  Board, ^  a  test 
of  64  problems  in  which  the  subject  indicates 
the  manner  in  which  a  complete  geometric 
figure  is  built  up  from  given  parts. 

2.  Problems  1,  4,  and  5  of  the  Thurstone- 
Jones  Spatial  Relations  Examination.' 

a.  In  problem  1,  the  subject  indicates 
whether  he  is  looking  at  the  same  face  of  a 
flag  shown  in  two  different  positions,  or  at 
opposite  faces. 

h.  In  problem  4,  the  subject  is  shown  how 
a  given  square  of  paper  is  folded,  and 
punched  after  folding.  He  indicates  on  a 
blank  square  how  the  punched  holes  would 
appear  if  the  paper  were  unfolded. 

c.  In  problem  5,  the  subject  is  shown 
pictures  of  blocks  piled  so  that  some  of  them 
are  entirely  concealed  from  view.  The  sub- 
ject indicates  as  directed  either  the  number 
of  blocks  in  the  pile  or  the  number  of  blocks 
it  would  take  to  complete  a  solid  cube. 

3.  Parts  V;  VI-1;  VI-1  and  -2;  VII;  VIII, 
and  VIII-2,   of  the  Downey  Group  Will- 

"^  Unpublished. 
'  Unpublished. 


Stoy  :  Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


95 


Temperament  Test.*  These  tests  are 
called,  in  order,  Coordination  of  Impulses, 
Speed  of  Movement,  Freedom  from  Load, 
Motor  Inhibition,  Flexibility,  and  Voli- 
tional Perseveration. 

The  individual  tests,  scored  on  first 
trial  only,  were: 

1.  The  Painted  Cube,'  in  which  the  sub- 
ject is  timed  on  his  ability  to  build  up  a 
three  inch  painted  cube  which  he  has  seen 
demolished  into  twenty-seven  one-inch 
cubes. 

2.  The  Freeman  Puzzle  Box,'  a  test  re- 
quiring the  subject  to  manipulate  properly 
a  complicated  system  of  levers  for  solution. 

3.  The  Freeman  Mirror  Drawing  Appara- 
tus,' in  which  the  subject  is  required  to 
trace  the  outline  of  a  six  pointed  star  with 
a  pantagraph  stylus  arranged  so  that  the 
points  of  the  star  are  seen  as  a  mirrored 
image . 

It  is  noteworthy  that  we  did  not  use 
in  this  program  any  of  the  well  stand- 
ardized intelligence  tests.  Several  of 
our  tests  will  be  recognized  as  prob- 
lems similar  to  some  of  those  included 
as  parts  of  published  intelligence  tests, 
but  we  did  not  use  a  complete  intel- 
Ugence  test  for  correlation  purposes. 
If  in  time  we  can  obtain  a  useful  re- 
gression equation  with  several  vari- 
ables, some  of  which  variables  may  be 
parts  of  pubhshed  intelligence  tests, 
we  need  have  no  concern  about  any 
one  inteUigence  test  as  a  whole  unless 

*  See  "The  Will-Temperament  and  Its 
Testing,"  by  June  E.  Downey.  World 
Book  Company,  Yonkers,  1923. 

'  See  p.  124  in  "Employment  Psychol- 
ogy," by  Henry  C.  Link.  The  Macmillan 
Company,  New  York,  1919. 

'  See  p.  32  ff.  in  "Experimental  Educa- 
tion," by  F.  N.  Freeman.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company,  New  York,  1916. 

^  See  p.  12  ^.  in  "Experimental  Educa- 
tion," by  F.  N.  Freeman.  Houghton  MifHin 
Company,  New  York,  1916. 


it  be  that  by  using  the  test  as  a  whole 
lower  cost  and  greater  convenience 
are  gained. 

THE    SUBJECTS    AND    CRITERIA 

We  used  as  subjects  Freshman  stu- 
dents who  were  taking  their  second 
semester  of  mechanical  drawing  at 
Lane  Technical  High  School  and 
Harper  Junior  High  School,  in  Chicago. 

At  Lane  Technical  High  School  we 
asked  each  of  four  instructors  in  six 
different  classes  to  select  the  four  or 
five    students    from    his    class    who 
showed  the  greatest  promise  of  be- 
coming good  draftsmen  if  given  the 
proper  training.     They  were  asked  to 
base    their   selections   only   on   their 
ideas  of  a  student's  abihty  to  grasp 
training  in  drawing,  controlHng  such 
factors  as  tardiness,  troublesomeness, 
and    absence.     Each    instructor    was 
asked  to  select  also  the  four  or  five 
of  his  students  who  showed  the  least 
promise  in  drafting.     For  use  as  an 
additional  criterion  the  director  of  the 
drawing  work  at  Lane  Technical  High 
School,  who  has  had  wide  experience  in 
commercial  drafting  rooms  and  directs 
the  work  of  many  mechanical  drawing 
instructors,  made  selections  with  the 
same  standards  in  mind,   but  based 
only  on  a  hasty  inspection  of  the  stu- 
dent's completed  plates  and  a   brief 
observation  of  the   student  at  work. 
Most  of  the  director's  selections  agreed 
with    those    of   the    instructors,    but 
where  there  was  disagreement  the  case 
was    dropped.     The    cases    obtained 
with  this  procedure  at  Lane  Technical 
High  School  were  twenty-five  promis- 
ing   students    and    twenty-four    un- 
promising.    At   Harper   Junior  High 
School  there  were  but  two  classes  of 


9G 


Stoy:  Tests  for  ^Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


second  semester  mechanical  drawing 
students  and  we  had  to  make  our  se- 
lections from  these,  thus  obtaining  less 
differentiated  groups  than  those  at 
Lane.  At  Harper  Junior  High  School 
we  rehed  on  the  judgment  of  the  draw- 
ing instructor,  who  selected  for  us 
nineteen  promising  cases  and  twenty 
unpromising. 

After  having  obtained  these  sup- 
posedly well  differentiated  groups  we 
wished  to  verify  the  selections.  That 
is,  we  had  at  each  school  two  groups, 
one  of  which  presumably  was  com- 
posed of  students  with  ability  not  only 
to  grasp  easily  the  elementary  drawing 
work,  but  also  to  climb  out  of  the  ap- 
prentice rank;  the  other  group  pre- 
sumably was  composed  of  students 
with  httle  or  no  aptitude.  It  was 
felt  reasonable  to  assume  that  after  a 
semester  and  a  half  of  instruction  those 
with  aptitude  for  drafting  ought  to  do 
better  work  on  a  drawing  test  than 
those  without  this  aptitude.  There- 
fore we  used  a  group  mechanical  draw- 
ing test  adapted  from  one  constructed 
by  Mr.  D.  W.  Castle,  Vocational  Di- 
rector at  Joliet  Township  High  School 
and   Junior   College,    Joliet,    Illinois.^ 

^  The  mechanical  drawing  test  used  as  a 
partial  criterion  consisted  of  seven  parts,  as 
follows:  A  completion  test  of  geometric 
terms;  a  group  of  four  mechanical  drawings 
in  which  missing  dimensions  are  called  for; 
a  materials  list  to  be  made  up  from  a  three- 
view  assembh'  drawing;  a  test  in  which  the 
three  views  of  each  of  eight  objects  are 
disarranged  and  are  to  be  identified;  four 
three-view  mechanical  drawings  in  which 
indicated  dimensions  on  one  view  are  to  be 
interpreted  from  a  different  view;  six  three- 
view  mechanical  drawings  in  which  features 
of  the  object  are  to  be  identified  on  a  differ- 
ent view;  and  a  three-view  and  sectional 
drawing   of   a   switchboard    fitting    to    be 


Although  little  standardization  work 
has  been  done  on  this  test  it  was  the 
only  one  suitable  for  our  needs  and 
available  on  short  notice.  Three  fifty- 
minute  school  periods  were  required  to 
administer  this  test.  The  distributed 
scores  on  this  test  showed  some  over- 
lapping for  both  the  Lane  groups  and 
Harper  groups.  That  is,  some  of  the 
students  who  were  promising  in  the 
eyes  of  the  instructor  did  poorer  work 
on  the  drawing  test  than  did  those 
selected  as  unpromising.  These  over- 
lapping cases  were  dropped,  with  the 
result  that  we  had  left  for  our  final 
groups  at  Lane  Technical  High  School 
sixteen  jiromising  cases  and  fourteen 
unpromising  and  at  Harper  Junior 
High  School  fifteen  promising  cases 
and  fourteen  unpromising.  Occa- 
sional absences  during  the  program  re- 
duced these  numbers  slightly. 

Figure  1  shows  graphicall}'  the  dis- 
tribution of  scores  on  the  criterion 
test.  The  scores  for  the  two  Harper 
groups  average  higher  than  those  for 
the  Lane  groups.  Unfortunately,  the 
part  of  the  test  concerned  with  In- 
terpretation by  Features  had  to  be 
dropped  as  a  result  of  the  short  school 
period  at  Lane  Technical  High  School. 
However,  it  may  be  well  to  state  that 
this  particular  difference  in  size  of 
scores  has  little  concern  with  relative 
abilities  at  the  two  schools. 


copied  in  pencil.  This  test  is  scored  on 
completeness,  legibility,  accuracy,  lettering 
and  cleanliness,  and  we  feel  that  the  ob- 
jectivity of  the  scoring  method  itself  is 
sufficiently  accurate  for  our  purpose .  How- 
ever, before  the  test  is  to  be  practicable  it 
must  be  shortened  and  it  must  be  evaluated 
according  to  the  importance  of  its  several 
parts. 


I 


Stoy:  Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


97 


It  will  be  noted  that  the  distributions 
for  Harper  groups  show  only  four- 
teen promising  cases  and  nine  un- 
promising  cases;  the  one  promising 
case  and  five  unpromising  cases  used 
to  complete  the  numbers  actually 
tested  at  Harper  Junior  High  School 
were  selected  as  usual  by  the  instruc- 
tor, but  further  selection  was  based  on 
their  scores  for  only  part  of  the  draw- 
ing test,  due  to  absence. 

The  ratio  of  the  difference  between 
the  means  of  the  promising  and 
unpromising  groups  to  the  probable 
error  of  this  difference  is  16.3  for  the 


RESULTS 

Tables  1  and  la  show  for  the  promis- 
ing and  for  the  unpromising  groups 
at  Lane  and  Harper,  respectively,  on 
each  item,  numbers  of  cases,  means, 
differences  in  means,  standard  devia- 
tions, probable  errors  of  means,  prob- 
able errors  of  differences,  and  ratios  of 
differences  in  means  to  probable  errors 
of  differences.  The  data  for  only  ten 
of  the  tests  are  comparable  at  the  two 
schools.  The  reason  for  this  situation 
is  that  three  of  the  thirteen  tests  given 
at  Harper  Junior  High  School  were 


LA^e. 


•  • 


20 


M,-  34.2 


AA    ^ 


30 


AO 


ri,-54.^ 


50 


60 


70 


SO 


90 


KO 


MAC  PEC 


n,-  7T6 


20 


30 


-40 


50 


60 


O   CO  b   oo  op 


70 


SO 


90 


lOO 


Fig.  1.  Distribution  of  Scores  on  Criterion  Test 
(Final  groups — after  double  selection) 


cases  at  Lane  Technical  High  School; 
this  ratio  for  the  Harper  group  is  10.1. 
Although  these  ratios  indicate  at  first 
glance  that  the  promising  and  un- 
promising groups  are  highly  differ- 
entiated, we  must  consider  that  our 
formulae  assume  a  distribution  of 
fairly  large  numbers.  We  recognize 
that  our  data  do  not  meet  this  con- 
dition and  we  feel  that  our  results 
must  be  questioned  with  this  in  mind, 
especially  at  Harper  Junior  High 
School.  The  problem  of  stability  will 
be  mentioned  again  in  connection  with 
test  results. 


invalidated  by  a  misunderstanding 
on  the  part  of  our  examiners  there. 
These  three  tests  are  the  Painted 
Cube,  the  Freeman  Puzzle  Box  and 
the  Freeman  Mirror  Drawing  Test. 

A  glance  at  Tables  1  and  la  shows 
that  the  probability  ratios  vary  in  size 
at  Lane  and  Harper.  Table  2  shows 
the  rank  of  the  probabihty  ratio  at 
each  school,  exclusive  of  the  three 
individual  tests  the  results  of  which 
were  invalid  for  the  Harper  groups. 
It  will  be  noted  that  there  is  consid- 
erable agreement  between  the  two 
series  of  probabihty  ratios.     Although 


98 


Stoy  :  Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


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Stoy:  Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


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100 


Stoy  :  Tests  for  ^Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


a  Spearman  rank  order  correlation 
coefficient  calculated  from  only  ten 
tests  cannot  be  easily  interpreted, 
we  have  nevertheless  found  p  for 
these  two  series  to  be  approximately 
0.30.  This  is  offered  the  reader  for 
what  he  feels  it  to  be  worth.  It  will 
be  noted  that  there  are  included  in  the 
probability  ratios  of  the  results  for  the 
ten  tests  acceptable  from  both  schools, 
four  that  are  approximately  3.0  or 
better   at   both   schools.     These    tests 


unpromising  group.  A  probability  of 
forty-seven  to  one  is  not,  of  course, 
equal  to  certainty,  but  it  is  a  fair  in- 
dication that  the  tests  may  prove 
ultimately  to  be  practically  useful. 
Here,  however,  we  have  this  probabil- 
ity ratio  of  3.0  or  better  repeated  in 
data  from  two  situations.  Thus,  we 
feel  that  we  have  increased  the  validity 
of  our  tests  over  that  which  would 
have  been  obtained  from  only  one 
situation.     We  feel  also  that  our  re- 


TABLE  2 
Rank  order  oj  aptitude  tests,  based  on  probability  ratio 


NAME  OF  TEST 


DIFF.  IN  MEANS  DIVIDED 

BY  P.E.  OF  DIFF. 

(PROBABILTTT  RATIo) 


Lane 

Technical 

High 

School 


Thurst one-Jones  Paper  Folding 

Minnesota  Paper  Form  Board 

Thurstone-Jones  Block  Counting 

Thurstone-Jones  Flag  Test 

Downey  Test  VIII,  Flexibility 

Downey  Test  V,  Coordination  Impulses 

Downey  Test  VI,  Freedom  from  Load 

Downey  Test  VIII,  Volitional  Perseveration 

Downey  Test  VII,  Motor  Inhibition 

Downey  Test  VI,  Speed  of  Movement 


8.95 
7.05 
5.99 
4.16 
2.96 
2.63 
1.75 
1.59 
1.58 
0.91 


Harper 

Junior 

High 

School 


3.28 
2.76 
0.97 

-0.25 
4.42 
3.83 
0.49 
1.24 
3.21 

-1.89 


BANK  ORDER  OF  PROB.4.- 
BILITY  R.^TIOS 


Lane 

Technical 

High 

School 


1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 


Harper 
Junior 
High 
School 


3 
5 

7 
9 
1 
2 
8 
6 
4 
10 


are  Thurstone-Jones  Problem  4  (Paper 
Folding);  Minnesota  Paper  Form 
Board;  Downey  Group  Test  V  (Co- 
ordination of  Impulses),  and  Downey 
Group  Test  VHI  (Flexibihty).  A 
probability  ratio  of  3.0  indicates  a 
probability  of  0.978.  Thus,  accord- 
ing to  current  statistical  formulae  the 
probability  is  0.978  or  forty-seven  to 
one  (for  each  of  these  four  tests)^  that 
in  a  similar  repeated  experiment  the 
average  score  for  the  promising  group 
will  exceed  the  average  score  for  the 


suits  justify  the  inclusion  of  these  four 
tests  in  a  more  refined  study,  prefer- 
ably carried  on  in  a  commercial  draft- 
ing room. 

There  were  previously  mentioned 
as  being  included  in  Table  1  the  re- 
sults of  three  tests  apparently  vahd  at 
Lane  but  not  at  Harper,  due  to  errors 
in  administration.  These  three  tests 
are  the  Painted  Cube,  Freeman  Puzzle 
Box  and  Freeman  Mirror  Drawing. 
The  ratios  of  differences  to  probable 
error  of  difference  for  these  three  tests 


Stoy  :  Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


101 


are,  in  order  as  named  above:  7.49, 
4.88,  and  2.05.  AYe  should  say  that 
the  Painted  Cube  and  the  Puzzle  Box 
are  valuable  tests  for  our  purpose. 

SUMMARY 

As  a  preliminary  study  of  aptitude 
for  drafting,  thirteen  separate  tests 
concerned  with  spatial  relations,  mo- 
tility, or  mechanical  ingenuity,  were 
given  in  two  high  schools,  to  groups 
differentiated  on  the  basis  of  promise 
or  lack  of  promise  in  mechanical 
drawing.  Of  these  thirteen  tests,  six 
showed  significant  group  dilTerences. 
These  six  tests  apparently  useful  for 
mechanical  drawing  aptitude  are: 
Thurstone-Jones  Problem  4  (Paper 
Folding),    Minnesota     Paper     Form 


Board,  Downey  Group  Test  V  (Coordi- 
nation of  Impulses^,  Downey  Group 
Test  VIII  (Flexibihty),  Painted 
Cube  test,  and  Freeman  Puzzle  Box. 
Predictions  on  the  success  or  fail- 
ure of  an  individual  cannot  be  made 
on  the  basis  of  the  results  of  this 
study.  However,  when  we  have 
uncovered  enough  useful  tests  by 
the  group  difference  method  to  make 
a  comprehensive  study  of  aptitude 
for  drafting  in  the  commercial 
field,  using  a  more  objective  crite- 
rion, (and  we  are  hopeful  of  this) ,  then 
we  may  develop  a  regression  equation 
of  several  variables  from  which  indi- 
vidual prediction  can  be  made  within 
known  limits. 

{Manuscript  received  January  7,  19^7.) 


Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 

By  Wm.  H.  Sheldon,   University  of  Chicago 

This  is  the  third  and  concluding  article  by  Dr.  Sheldon  on  the  re- 
lationship of  bodily  measurements  to  social  and  mental  abilities. 
The  previous  articles  icere  ^'Morphologic  Types  and  Mental  Abil- 
ity,'^ in  the  March  number,  and  "Social  Traits  and  Morphologic 
Types, ^^  in  the  June  number. 

This  series  of  articles  is  outstanding  in  its  field  for  its  care  and 
thoroughness.  It  clarifies  the  situation  considerably,  leaving  the 
definite  impression  that  relationships  between  bodily  measurements 
and  psychological  abilities  are  in  a  few  instances  positive,  but  of 
small  statistical  importance.  Certainly  they  are  too  meager  to 
serve  as  a  basis  for  employment  practice  or  "character  analysis." 

The  objective  of  this  study  was  to  examine  the  relationships  be- 
tween certain  head  and  face  measurements  and  proportions,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  ratings  on  five  social  traits  and  measurements  of  general 
mental  abihty,  on  the  other. 

The  head  and  face  measurements  were  made  from  photographs 
taken  with  especially  devised  apparatus  for  controlling  the  position 
of  the  head.  The  method  of  rating  traits  and  measuring  general 
mental  abihty  was  described  in  the  Jourxal  of  Personnel  Research 
for  March  and  June,  1927. 

The  correlations  were  worked  out  for  a  group  of  100  college  students. 
There  is  a  fairly  definite  but  very  low  positive  relationship  between  all 
of  the  measurements  of  the  face  and  head  and  ratings  on  the  four  social 
traits,  sociability,  perseverance,  leadership,  and  aggressiveness.  Size 
or  general  physical  development  of  the  head  and  face  is  positively  re- 
lated to  these  traits.  The  correlations  between  the  ratings  on  social 
traits  and  measurement  ratios  or  proportions  are  uniformly  lower 
than  between  ratings  and  the  simple  measurements.  Largeness  is 
more  significant  than  shape  of  feature.  Emotionality  correlates  practi- 
cally zero  with  the  head  and  face  measurements. 

Intelligence  bears  a  low  positive  relation  to  head  length,  head 
breadth,  and  head  height;  a  low  negative  relation  to  facial  length  and 
facial  breadth;  and  no  relationship  to  head  and  face  measurement 
ratios  or  proportions. 

THE  problem  of  correlation  be-  kindred  devices  for  measuring  intelli- 
tween  physical  and  mental  traits  gence.  Especially  fascinating  is  the 
has  occupied  the  attention  of  a  notion  of  the  possible  existence  of  rela- 
fairly  large  group  of  investigators  since  tions  between  ratios  of  head  and  face 
the  development  of  mental  tests  and     measurements  and  mental  abilities,  as 

102 


Sheldon:  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


103 


well  as  between  ratios  of  general  bodily 
measurements  and  mental  abilities. 
If  the  morphological  index  really  bears 
a  general  relationship  to  intelligence, 
then  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that 
other  ratios  can  be  found  which  will 
show  relationship,  if  not  to  psychologi- 
cal test  scores,  at  least  to  some  meas- 
ures of  mental  ability.  Some  of  these 
ratios  conceivably  might  show  higher 
correlations  with  intelligence  test 
scores  than  does  the  morphological 
index .  It  is  especially  likely  that  some 
of  these  physical  measurements,  or 
ratios  between  them,  might  bear  de- 
monstrable relations  to  such  social 
abihties  as  those  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  article.  It  is  commonly 
supposed  that  an  individual's  physical 
makeup  affects  his  social  behavior 
more  observably  and  measurably  at 
least,  than  it  affects  his  intelligence . 

A  great  variety  of  head  and  face 
measurements  have  been  assumed  by 
character  analysts  and  others  to  bear 
such  definite  relations  to  various  char- 
acter traits  and  social  traits,  as  to 
be  usable  even  for  individual  diagnosis. 
A  number  of  investigators  have  at- 
tempted to  pin  down  and  check  some 
of  these  assumptions,  but  their  reports 
have  been  uniformly  negative.  No 
scientific  investigator,  so  far  as  I  know, 
has  reported  finding  any  significant 
relations  of  this  nature.  But  these 
investigations  have  been  notably  in- 
complete, and  sometimes  made  under 
definitely  negative  biases.  It  cer- 
tainly has  not  been  proved  that  some 
such  relations  do  not  exist,  and  con- 
sequently the  assumptions  persist. 
The  only  answer  to  the  problem  lies 
in  further  evidence.  There  is  still  a 
need  for  disinterested  statistical  study 


of  possible  relations  between  accurate 
physical  measurements  of  this  sort, 
and  the  best  available  measurements 
of  social  traits. 

The  objective  of  this  third  section 
of  the  present  study  was  to  examine 
the  possibility  of  relations  between 
certain  head  and  face  measurements 
and  proportions,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
social  traits  and  mental  abilities,  on 
the  other.  The  chief  problem  in  this 
connection  was  the  estabhshment  of  a 
technique  for  making  head  and  face 
measurements  which  would  differen- 
tiate between  very  fine  variations, 
with  a  minimum  of  error.  One  essen- 
tial to  such  a  procedure  appeared  to  be 
that  the  measurements  be  made  at  the 
leisure  of  the  examiner — a  condition 
evidently  not  possible  in  measuring 
men  directly.  Consequently  it  was 
necessary  to  devise  a  method  by  which 
measurements  could  be  made  in- 
directly, without  loss  of  accuracy. 

APPARATUS   FOR   MAKING  HEAD 
MEASUREMENTS 

In  order  to  serve  this  purpose,  a 
kind  of  photographic  apparatus  was 
devised.  This  consisted  of  a  specially 
constructed  chair  with  a  head  rest 
which  could  be  adjusted  to  hold  a 
student's  head  in  a  fixed  position  by 
appljang  contact  at  four  points.  This 
made  it  possible  to  photograph  the 
head  with  distance  from  the  camera 
and  both  horizontal  and  vertical  move- 
ment controlled.  The  apparatus  was 
also  equipped  with  a  device  which 
made  possible  a  frontal  and  profile 
photograph  of  a  subject  without  mov- 
ing the  camera  or  changing  the  sub- 
ject's relation  to  the  chair.  Thus  the 
investigator  was  able  to  make  com- 


104 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


parative  three-dimensional  measure- 
ments of  any  desired  area  or  distance 
on  the  photographed  surface,  at  any 
time  or  place. 

The  apparatus  used  for  this  work 
consisted  of  an  adjustable  chair,  ad- 
justable camera  stand,  white  screen, 


was  attached  a  horizontal  cross-piece, 
14  inches  long.  At  either  end  of  the 
cross-piece,  and  projecting  forward 
from  it,  a  sliding  4^-inch  horizontal 
bar  (C)  and  (D)  was  attached.  The 
padded  ends  of  these  bars,  (£')  and  {F) 
clamped  against  the  sides  of  the  sub- 


C  D 


;E    F 


Fig.  1.  Apparatus  FOR  Controlling  Position  of  the  Head 


two  lOOQ-watt  lamps  with  reflectors, 
and  camera.  The  chair  was  equipped 
with  a  head  rest  which  is  pictured  in 
in  figure  1. 

This  chair  was  an  ordinary  swivel 
stool,  to  which  was  attached  a  vertical 
steel  bar  (A)  about  3^  feet  high.  The 
bar  was  fitted  with  a  slide  (B)  to  which 


ject's  head  about  an  inch  above  the 
ear,  and  could  be  adjusted  laterally 
by  manipulating  the  slides  (G)  and 
(//).  A  flattened  horizontal  steel  bar 
(7),  nine  inches  in  length,  was  likewise 
attached  to  the  slide,  in  such  a  way  as 
to  hold  the  top  of  the  subject's  head 
vertically    immobile.     Thus    when    a 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


105 


subject  was  seated  in  the  chair  and 
the  three  sHdes,  (B),  {G),  and  (H), 
were  adjusted,  the  head  was  held  im- 
movable at  four  points,  (a),  (b),  (c), 
and  (d).  The  point  (a)  as  well  as  (c) 
and  {d)  was  padded. 

Two  steel  bars  joined  at  right  angles 
were  attached  to  the  legs  of  the  stool, 
below  the  seat.  Each  was  notched 
in  the  middle  so  that,  by  inserting  a 
drop-piece  into  one  of  the  notches,  a 
position  of  the  apparatus  was  obtained 
which  was  at  right  angles  to  that  ob- 
tained by  inserting  the  drop-piece  into 
the  other  notch.  That  is,  the  chair 
could  be  rotated  back  and  forth 
through  an  angle  of  90  degrees.  This 
device  made  it  possible  to  photograph 
subjects  in  exactly  frontal  and  profile 
positions. 

On  the  upper  surface  of  the  horizon- 
tal bar  (7)  was  soldered  a  flat  steel 
ruler  to  which  was  glued  a  millimeter 
scale  on  white  paper.  This  made  it 
possible  to  photograph  into  each  of 
the  profile  pictures  the  exact  scale 
upon  which  the  measurements  were 
to  be  taken,  and  provided  a  further 
safeguard  that  a  measurement  of  a 
given  length  on  one  man^s  face  would 
be  exactly  equivalent  to  the  same 
measurement  on  another  face. 

The  apparatus  was  screwed  to  the 
floor  in  such  a  way  that  when  in  one 
position  the  subject  directly  faced  the 
camera,  and  when  in  the  other  position 
he  presented  an  exact  profile  to  the 
camera.  The  position  change  was 
made,  of  course,  by  swinging  the 
chair  on  its  swivel,  without  in  any  way 
interfering  with  the  subject,  whose 
head  was  securely  clamped  in  position. 

The  camera  stand  was  a  five-foot 
vertical  rod  screwed  into  a  tripod  base. 


To  the  rod  were  attached  two  sliding 
clamps.  To  one  of  these  clamps  was 
fastened  a  short  horizontal  bar  which 
could  be  attached  to  any  convenient 
fixed  object  (in  this  particular  case  a 
high  window  sill)  in  order  to  steady  the 
stand.  The  other  of  these  clamps 
carried  a  threaded  brass  support  to 
which  the  camera  was  screwed.  When 
the  correct  distance  for  the  camera  was 
determined,  the  stand  was  screwed  se- 
curely to  the  floor.  Xhus  the  only  ad- 
justment of  the  position  of  the  camera 
which  could  be  made  was  a  vertical 
one,  to  correspond  to  the  varying  sit- 
ting height  of  the  subjects.  This  ad- 
justment was  actually  made  during 
the  process  of  photographing,  by 
measuring  the  height  of  a  subject's 
nose  from  the  floor,  after  his  head  was 
fixed  in  position,  and  then  adjusting 
the  height  of  the  camera  accordingly. 

The  camera  used  was  an  Eastman 
Kodak  3A  Special,  equipped  with  an 
Anastigmat  lens  /  6.3,  and  producing 
a  picture  3j  inches  by  5|  inches.  By 
using  a  portrait  lens  attachment, 
photographs  were  secured  which  gave 
a  measuring  surface  for  the  average 
face  of  about  350  mm.  (long  axis)  by 
about  250  mm.  (short  axis).  This 
proved  to  be  sufficiently  large  to  permit 
of  measurements  in  millimeters  which 
showed  a  high  degree  of  reliability. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  these  millimeter 
scales  were  photographed  into  the 
pictures. 

The  measuring  was  done  by  placing 
the  negative  over  an  illuminated 
ground  glass  screen.  First,  the  points 
between  which  measurements  were  to 
be  taken  were  located  and  marked  by 
needle  pricks  on  the  negative.  Then 
the  points  of  a  pair  of  very  fine  dividers 


106 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  ^Measurements 


were  inserted  in  two  of  these  holes, 
and  the  distance  between  them  was 
measured.  This  distance  was  trans- 
lated directly  into  iniUimeters  by  ap- 
phdng  the  di\'iders  to  the  scale,  which 
had  been  photographed  into  the  pic- 
ture. 

The  assumption  seemed  justified 
that  length  or  vertical  distances  on  the 
face  and  head  were  accurately  repre- 
sented in  the  profile  photographs,  and 
hkewise,  that  breadth,  or  horizontal 
distances  measured  on  the  frontal 
photographs,  were  accurately  repre- 
sentative of  true  distances  between 
points  on  the  face  and  head.  In  view 
of  the  fact  that  length  measurements 
taken  from  the  frontal  photographs 
were  subject  to  some  degree  of  error, 
none  of  these  measurements  was  used 
in  the  investigation.  Likewise  no 
breadth  or  horizontal  measurements 
from  the  profile  pictures  were  used. 

MEASUREMENTS   USED 

The  photographs  of  one  hundred 
men  were  used  in  the  investigation. 
These  were  all  freshmen  whose  mor- 
phologic measurements  had  been 
taken,  and  who  had  been  rated  on  the 
five  social  traits  described  in  a  pre- 
vious section  of  this  study.  Twelve 
measurements  were  taken.  These  may 
be  described  as  follows : 

1.  Head  length  (HL).  The  maximum 
length  of  the  head.  The  shortest  distance 
between  the  glabella  and  the  occipital 
point,  i.e.,  between  the  prominence  of  the 
forehead  immediately  above  the  nose  and 
the  most  projecting  point  at  the  back  of  the 
head.     Taken  from  the  profile  photograph. 

2.  Head  breadth  (HB).  The  ma.\imum 
breadth  of  the  head,  above  the  back  of  the 
ears.     From  the  frontal  photograph. 

3.  Head  height  (HH).     The  vertical  dis- 


tance of  the  center  of  the  external  auricular 
meatus  below  a  horizontal  plane  tangential 
to  the  top  of  the  head  (from  the  profile 
photograph).  In  taking  this  measurement, 
the  meatus  is  first  located;  then  a  horizontal 
line  is  drawn  on  the  negative,  tangential 
to  the  top  of  the  head,  by  means  of  a  small 
steel  L-square  and  the  sharp  point  of  a  small 
pen-knife;  then  a  line  through  the  meatus  is 
drawn  perpendicular  to  the  horizontal  head- 
tangent.  The  distance  between  the  meatus 
and  the  intersection  of  these  two  lines  is 
the  head  height. 

4.  Facial  length  (FL).  The  shortest  dis- 
tance between  the  nasion  point  (at  the  angle 
between  the  nose  and  the  forehead),  and 
the  gnathion  point  (the  point  at  the  center 
of  the  angle  of  the  chin).  Taken  from  the 
profile  photograph.  The  nasion  point  can 
generally  be  located  very  easily  by  inspec- 
tion; the  gnathion  is  somewhat  more  diflB- 
cult  but  after  a  little  practice  it  can  be  lo- 
cated with  only  slight  probability  of  error. 

5.  Facial  breadth  upper  (FBU).  I  am 
applying  this  term  to  what  Goring  and 
others  call  the  facial  breadth.  Goring  de- 
fines the  measurement  as  "the  maximum 
breadth  of  the  face,  between  the  most 
prominent  points  on  the  right  and  left  cheek 
bones."  Taken  from  the  frontal  photo- 
graph. 

6.  Facial  breadth  lower  (FBL).  In  order 
to  get  a  comparison  between  the  upper  and 
lower  breadth  of  the  face,  I  took  this  meas- 
urement, arbitrarih-  defining  it  as  the  length 
of  the  horizontal  line  between  the  two  ex- 
treme points  on  the  right  and  left  side  of  the 
face,  at  the  level  of  the  mouth.  From  the 
frontal  photograph.  In  practice  I  found  it 
convenient  to  think  of  this  line  as  that  hori- 
zontal line  which  divides  the  mouth  into 
two  equal  parts,  rather  than  as  the  line 
passing  through  the  horizontal  axis  of  the 
mouth.  This  is  because  of  the  fact  that 
most  mouths  are  neither  s>Tnmetrical  nor 
horizontal. 

7.  Eye  width  (EW).  This  was  an  easy 
measurement  from  the  frontal  photograph. 
It  was  taken  between  the  pupils,  which 
showed  very  clearly  in  the  negatives  as  two 
dots  about  the  size  of  pin  holes.  The  "eye 
width"  was  the  distance  between  the  cen- 
ters of  these  two  dots. 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


107 


8.  Nose  length  (NL).  The  distance  be- 
tween the  nasion  point  and  a  point  at  the 
center  of  the  angle  at  the  end  of  the  nose, 
as  seen  in  the  profile.  Taken  from  the  pro- 
file photograph.  The  nasion  point  has  al- 
ready been  located.  The  center  of  the  pro- 
file angle  at  the  end  of  the  nose  can  likewise 
be  located  by  inspection  without  diflficulty 
after  a  little  practice. 

9.  Chin  projection  (CP).  A  perpendicu- 
lar distance  between  two  vertical  lines,  one 
of  which  passes  through  the  external  auric- 
ular meatus,  and  the  other  through  the 
most  projecting  point  on  the  chin.  Taken 
from  the  profile  photograph. 

10.  Nose  projection  (NP).  Same  as  9, 
except  that  the  second  vertical  line  passes 
through  the  most  projecting  point  on  the 
nose. 

11.  Forehead  projection  (FP).  Same  as 
9,  except  that  the  second  vertical  line 
passes  through  the  most  projecting  point  on 
the  forehead. 

12.  Neck  thickness  (NTh).  The  mean  of 
the  shortest  anterior-posterior,  and  the 
shortest  transverse  thicknesses  of  the  neck. 
The  anterior-posterior  measurement  was 
taken  from  the  profile  photograph,  and  the 
transverse  measurement  from  the  frontal 
photograph. 

In  addition  to  these  12  measure- 
ments, the  following  15  combinations 
and  ratios  were  used : 

13.  Cephalic  index  (Ceph.  I).  Head 
breadth  x  100  over  head  length.     (Goring.) 

14.  Head  volume  (H  Vol.).  Head  length 
X  head  breadth  x  head  height. 

15.  Facial  index.  (F  Ind.).  Facial 
breadth  x  100  over  facial  length  x  2.  The 
facial  breadth  used  here  was  my  facial 
breadth  upper.     (Goring.) 

16.  Facial  length  over  head  volume 
(FL/HV). 

17.  Facial  breadth  lower  over  facial  breadth 
upper  (FBL/FBU). 

18.  Eye  width  over  head  volume  (EW/HV) . 

19.  Eye  width  over  facial  breadth  upper 
(EW/FBU) . 

20.  Eye  width  over  facial  breadth  lower 
<EW/FBL). 


21.  Nose  length  over  head  volume 
(NL/HV). 

22.  Nose  length  over  facial  length 
(NL/FL). 

23.  Nose  length  over  facial  breadth  upper 
(NL/FBU). 

24.  iVo-se  length  over  facial  breadth  lower 
(NL/FBL). 

25.  Forehead  projection  over  chin  projec- 
tion (FF/CF). 

26.  Nose  prominence  (N  Prom.).  This 
ratio  represents  the  amount  of  projection  of 
the  nose  over  and  above  the  averaged  pro- 
jection of  the  chin  and  forehead.  I  ar- 
rived at  it  by  using  the  formula  2NP  — 
(CP  +  FP)  where  NP  is  nose  projection, 
CP  is  chin  projection,  and  FP  is  forehead 
projection. 

27.  Neck  thickness  over  head  volume 
(NTh./HV). 

To  test  the  reliability  of  these  meas- 
urements, the  photographs  of  12  men 
were  re-measured  and  the  results  com- 
pared with  the  first  measurements. 
Tliere  were  thus  144  pairs  of  measure- 
ments to  be  compared.  Of  these  144 
pairs,  differences  were  found  in  only  5, 
the  difference  being  in  each  case, 
one  millimeter.  Such  close  agreement 
seems  at  first  remarkable,  but  it  is 
easily  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
the  measurements  were  in  each  case 
taken  between  the  same  needle  pricks 
in  the  negative. 

There  were  in  all  twenty-seven 
variables  in  this  group.  These  were 
correlated  with  each  of  the  five  social 
traits,  and  with  two  criteria  of  mental 
ability  (scholarship  grades  and  psy- 
chological test  scores) .  The  remainder 
of  the  present  section  of  this  study 
will  be  devoted  to  an  examination  of 
correlations  (1)  between  these  head 
and  face  measurements  and  social 
ratings;  and  (2)  between  the  measure- 
ments and  intelligence  criteria. 


THE    PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,   VOL.    VI,    NO.   2 


108 


Sheldon:  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


HEAD    AND    FACE   MEASUREMENTS    AND 
SOCIAL   RATINGS 

Correlations  in  this  group  are  shown 
in  table  1. 

This  group  of  135  correlations  looks 
rather  disappointing  at  first  glance. 
There  are  no  really  high  relationships, 
and  there  are  many  which  are  close  to 
zero.  Eight  are  higher  than  0.20,  and 
58  are  higher  than  0.10.  Only  four 
in  the  group  exceed  three  times  their 
probable  errors.     These  are: 

Sociability — head  length 
Sociability — neck  thickness 
Leadership — facial  breadth  lower 
Aggressiveness — facial  breadth  lower 

Twenty-four  of  the  correlations  ex- 
ceed twice  their  probable  errors.  The 
column  headed  sociability  contains 
nine  of  these,  leadership  has  eight, 
aggressiveness  four,  perseverance 
three,  and  emotionality  none.  There 
are  43  negative  correlations,  but  onlj^ 
two  of  them  exceed  twice  their  prob- 
able errors.  There  is  a  general  tend- 
ency toward  (1)  positive  correlation 
between  four  of  the  social  traits  and 
all  of  the  measurements,  (2)  negative 
correlation  between  these  four  traits 
and  the  measurement  ratios,  and  (3) 
negative  correlation  between  emo- 
tionality and  the  measurements. 
Again,  as  in  the  preceding  section, ^ 
the  traits  sociability,  leadership,  and 
aggressiveness  show  this  positive  cor- 
relation fairly  clearly,  while  emotion- 
ality shows  the  opposite  tendency. 

The  correlations  with  gross  measure- 
ments are  almost  uniformly  positive. 

^  See  "Social  traits  and  morphologic 
types,"  in  the  June  number  of  the  Journal 
of  Personnel  Research. 


Excluding  emotionahtj',  only  four  in 
48  are  negative.  The  correlations 
with  ratios  however,  show  a  pretty 
clear  bimodal  distribution,  or  rather 
two  separate  distributions,  one  on  each 
side  of  *he  zero  ordinate.  This  points 
very  strongly  toward  the  conclusion 
that  the  only  relationship  existing  here 
may  be  a  positive  relationship  between 
the  social  traits  and  simple  physical 
bigness.  Let  a  represent  a  measure- 
ment correlating  relatively  high  with 
a  particular  social  trait,  s.  Let  b 
represent  a  measurement  correlating 
somewhat  lower  with  the  same  trait. 
Then  when  the  trait  s  is  correlated 
with  a/6,  a  low  positive  correlation 
will  result.  When  s  is  correlated  with 
h/a  a  negative  correlation  is  found. 
This  apparently  is  what  has  happened 
in  this  group  of  correlations.  The 
positive  and  negative  correlations  be- 
tween social  traits  and  ratios  may  well 
be  due  entirely  to  the  a/b  and  b/a 
conditions,  respectively.  Thus  nose 
length  and  facial  length  each  show  a 
positive  relationship  with  sociability 
(0.05    and    0.19    respectively).     But 

XL 

^=Y-  correlates  —0.06  with  sociability. 

Both  facial  length  and  head  volume 
correlate  positively  with  the  same 
social  trait  (0.19  and  0.22  respectively), 

FL 
but  7777  correlates  —0.05  with  sociabil- 

ity.  That  is,  it  does  not  seem  to  be 
facial  length  {or  any  other  of  these  meas- 
uremeyits)  in  proportion  to  some  other 
measurement  that  correlates  with  the 
social  traits.  It  see77is  to  be  large  fea- 
tures in  general  that  correlate  with  these 
traits. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  same 
facts  were  found  in  the  second  article. 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


109 


Large  bodily  measurements  were  on 
the  whole  positively  related,  and  small 
body  measurements  negatively  re- 
lated, to  these  social  traits. 


uniform  positive  correlations  with  the 
first  four  social  traits,  and  they  all 
show  a  slight  negative  correlation  with 
emotionahty.     Head  volume,  derived 


TABLE  1 

Correlations  between  social  ratings  and  head  and  face  measurements 
(100  cases) 


SOCIABILITY 


PER8BVER- 
B  ANCE 


LEADER- 
SHIP 


AGGRES- 
SIVENESS 


EMOTIONAL 
EXCITA- 
BILITY 


Measurements 


Head  Length 

Head  Breadth. . . 

Head  Height 

Fac.  Length 

Fac.  Breadth  U. 
Fac.  Breadth  L. 

Eye  Width 

Nose  Length 

Chin  Proj 

Nose  Proj 

Forehead  Proj . . . 
Neck  Thickness. 


0.267 

0.105 

0.190 

0.024 

0.092 

0.081 

0.183 

-0.0S4 

0.0&4 

0.093 

0.041 

0.056 

0.189 

0.205 

0.093 

0.039 

0.096 

0.124 

0.209 

0.080 

0.174 

0.114 

0.304 

0.250 

0.030 

0.198 

0.102 

0.017 

0.051 

0.086 

0.138 

0.120 

-0.154 

0.041 

0.213 

0.178 

0.002 

0.083 

0.116 

0.031 

0.046 

0.002 

-0.033 

-0.007 

0.269 

0.132 

0.192 

0.098 

■0.086 
-0.006 
-0.104 
-0.088 

0.017 

0.021 
-0.053 
-0.070 
-0.006 

0.026 
-0.064 

0.073 


Ratios 


Ceph.  Index. .. 
Head  Volume. 

Fac.  Index 

FL/HV 

FBL/FBU 

EW/HV 

EW/FBU 

EW/FBL 

NL/HV 

NL/FL 

NL/FBU 

NL/FBL 

FP/CP 

2NP-(CP-FP). 
Neck  Th./HV. 


0.162 

-0.044 

-0.116 

0.153 

0.218 

0.170 

0.050 

-0.125 

0.072 

-0.099 

0.088 

0.164 

-0.048 

-0.065 

0.035 

0.187 

0.128 

0.068 

0.175 

0.141 

-0.198 

0.087 

-0.128 

-0.126 

-0.122 

0.141 

-0.195 

0.086 

-0.182 

-0.098 

-0.097 

0.147 

-0.050 

-0.078 

-0.150 

0.108 

-0.061 

0.048 

-0.0&4 

0.035 

0.011 

0.078 

-0.146 

0.136 

-0.057 

-0.032 

0.097 

0.126 

0.184 

-0.035 

-0.116 

-0.147 

-0.085 

-0.086 

0.131 

0.064 

0.081 

-0.078 

0.075 

0.119 

0.086 
-0.136 
0.095 
0.024 
0.104 
0.130 
-0.058 
0.113 
0.054 
0.050 
0.080 
0.048 
0.068 
0.085 
0.130 


Table  1  will  repay  careful  inspec- 
tion. Some  of  these  measurements 
are  much  more  definitely  related  to 
social  traits  than  others.  All  three 
of  the  head  measurements  show  fairly 


from  these  three,  is  related  negatively 
with  aggressiveness,  as  well  as  with 
emotionality.  The  three  facial  meas- 
urements (Fl,  FBU,  and  FBL)  show 
a  distinctly  higher  positive  relation- 


no 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


ship  to  the  social  traits  all  along  the 
line,  and  the  negative  relationship  with 
emotionality  is  less  marked.  The 
correlations  between  facial  breadth 
lower  and  the  first  four  social  traits  are 
among  the  highest  in  the  group.  These 
four  correlations  average  0.21 1.  There 
is  some  truth  in  the  notion  that 
"open-faced"  or  wide  faced  people  are 
rated  higher  on  these  social  traits, 
than  are  narrow  faced  people. 

For  eye  width  the  same  general  facts 
hold,  but  to  a  less  extent.  The  same 
is  true  of  nose  length.  Chin  projec- 
tion correlates  —0.15  with  sociability, 
and  rather  high  with  both  leadership 
and  aggressiveness.  Possibly  pro- 
jecting chins  are  not  particularly  well 
liked.  Nose  projection  and  forehead 
projection  show  distinctly  lower  re- 
lationships with  the  social  traits  than 
do  the  other  measurements. 

The  relatively  high  correlation 
(0-269)  between  neck  thickness  and 
sociability  is  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting in  the  group.  Thick  necks 
seem  to  be  quite  popular.  This  meas- 
urement also  correlates  relatively  high 
with  the  other  four  social  traits. 

HEAD    AND    FACE    MEASUREMENTS    AND 
INTELLIGENCE   CRITERIA 

These  correlations  appear  in  table  2. 

These  correlations  are  distinctly 
lower  than  the  other  group.  Only 
two  of  the  54  exceed  twice  their  prob- 
able errors.  These  are  head  length 
and  grades,  and  head  height  and  psy- 
chological test.  All  three  of  the  head 
measurements  show  a  slight  positive 
correlation  with  both  of  the  intelli- 
gence criteria.  Head  volume,  how- 
ever, shows  practically  a  zero  relation- 
ship here. 


The  three  face  measurements  corre- 
late uniformly  negatively  and  very  low 
with  the  intelligence  criteria.  Facial 
breadth  lower,  the  measurement  show- 

TABLE  2 
Correlations  between  head  and  face  measure- 
ments  and  intelligence  criteria 
(100  cases) 


PSYCHO- 
LOGICAL 
TEST 


Measurements 


Head  Length 

Head  Breadth 

Head  Height 

Fac.  Length 

Fac.  Breadth  U 

Fac.  Breadth  L 

Eye  Width 

Nose  Length 

Chin  Proj 

Nose  Proj 

Forehead  Proj 

Neck  Thickness 

Ratios 

Ceph  Index 

Head  Volume 

Fac.  Index 

Fl/HV 

FBL/FBU 

EW/HV 

EW/FBU 

EW/FBL 

NL/HV 

NL/FBU 

NL/FBL 

FP/CP 

2NP-(CP-FP) 

Neck  Th./HV 


0.097 

0.051 

0.174 

-0.008 

-0.079 

-0.052 

0.065 

0.029 

-0.041 

0.099 

-0.117 

0.040 


0.137 

0.106 

0.078 

-0.044 

-0.092 

-0.021 

0.002 

-0.035 

0.054 

0.053 

-0.067 

-0.054 


-0.038 
0.015 
-0.009 
-0.043 
0.033 
-0.014 
0.051 
-0.031 
0.022 
-0.024 
-0.080 
-0.054 
0.078 
0.003 


-0.042 

0.062 

-0.011 

-0.104 

0.033 

-0.037 

0.094 

-0.052 

-0.049 

-0.004 

-0.042 

-0.054 

0.002 

0.002 


ing  the  highest  correlation  with  social 
traits,  correlates  —0.05  with  the  psy- 
chological test  scores,  and  —0.02  with 
scholarship. 
Eve  width  shows  no  relation  with 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


111 


grades,  and  only  0.07  with  the  psy- 
chological test.  Nose  length  corre- 
lates practically  zero  with  both  cri- 
teria. Xose  projection,  however, 
shows  a  correlation  of  0.10  with  the 
psychological  test,  and  0.05  with 
grades.  Chin  projection  shows  prac- 
tically nothing  here,  but  forehead  pro- 
jection, strangely  enough,  correlates 
negatively  (  —  0.12)  with  psychological 
test  scores  and  —0.07  with  grades. 
This,  upon  examination  of  the  correla- 
tion sheets,  proved  to  be  due  to  the 
influence  of  about  six  cases  of  markedly 
protruding  foreheads  accompanying 
low  intelligence. 

Neck  thickness  shows  no  relation 
to  either  of  the  intelligence  criteria, 
although  it  correlated  relatively  high 
with  the  social  traits. 

The  correlations  between  the  intel- 
ligence criteria  and  measurement  ra- 
tios show  uniformly  nothing.  IVIost 
of  them  are  less  than  their  probable 
errors,  and  not  one  is  twice  its  probable 
error.  They  are  about  half  negative, 
and  their  mean  is  —0.012. 

CONCLUSIONS 

This  section  of  the  study  seems  to 
throw  little  light  on  the  problem,  be- 
yond a  tendency  to  support  the  find- 
ings of  Pearson^  and  others  who  have 
reported  slight  positive  correlations 
between  all  three  of  the  head  measure- 
ments and  intelligence.  My  correla- 
tions are  slightly  higher  than  those 
Pearson  found,  but  the  number  of 
cases  is  too  small  for  great  significance. 

The  fact  that  none  of  the  ratios 

"^  Pearson,  Karl.  Relation  of  intelligence 
to  size  and  shape  of  the  head,  and  to  other 
physical  and  mental  characters.  Biomet- 
rika,  190&-7,  vol.  5,  pp.  105-146. 


bears  any  significant  relationship  with 
intelligence  points  strongly  to  the  con- 
clusion that  here  as  well  as  in  the  case 
of  the  social  traits,  the  relation  that 
does  exist  is  much  more  likely  to  be  a 
correlation  of  the  criteria  with  general 
physical  development  (of  the  head,  in 
this  case)  than  with  the  special  devel- 
opment of  some  anatomical  feature. 
The  only  fact  I  have  found  which  seems 
to  contradict  this  conclusion  is  the 
slight  negative  relationship  between 
intelligence  and  the  measurements  of 
facial  breadth.  For  this  relationship 
I  know  of  no  explanation.  Perhaps 
the  character  analysts  can  make  some 
use  of  it. 

The  following  general  conclusions 
seem  justified  by  the  facts  presented 
in  this  section : 

1.  There  is  a  fairly  definite,  low 
positive  relationship  between  all  of  the 
measurements  of  the  face  and  head,  and 
the  four  social  traits,  sociability,  per- 
severance, leadership,  and  aggressive- 
ness. Clearly  the  factor  size,  or  gen- 
eral physical  development  of  the  head 
and  face,  is  positively  related  to  these 
social  traits.  The  relationship  is  of 
course  very  slight,  and  undoubtedly  of 
less  importance  than  several  other 
factors  influencing  an  individual's  be- 
havior. 

2.  The  correlations  between  the  so- 
cial traits  and  measurement  ratios  or 
proportions  are  uniformly  lower  than 
correlations  between  social  traits  and 
the  simple  measurements.  Sociabil- 
ity and  the  other  traits  tend  to  accom- 
pany not  a  long  face,  or  a  wide  face,  or 
a  long  head,  in  proportion  to  head 
volume,  or  some  other  measurement, 
but  these  traits  tend  to  accompany 
any  largeness  of  feature  whatever. 


112 


Sheldon  :  Ability  and  Facial  Measurements 


3.  There  is  a  low  negative  correla- 
tion or  no  correlation  at  all,  between 
niost  of  the  head  and  face  measure- 
nients,  and  emotionality. 

4.  There  is  a  low  positive  relation 
between  intelligence  and  all  three 
of  the  principal  head  measurements, 
namely,  head  length,  head  breadth, 
and  head  height. 

5.  There  is  a  %^ry  low  negative  rela- 
tion between  intelligence  and  the 
principal  face  measurements,  namely, 
facial  length  and  facial  breadth. 

6.  No  relation  could  be  found  be- 
tween inteUigence  and  head  and  face 
measurement  ratios  or  proportions. 

7.  The  possibility  of  curvilinear  re- 
gression was  carefully  checked.  No 
non-linear  relations  were  found. 

(Manuscript  received  December  20,  1926.) 

author's  note 

In  the  March  number  of  the  Journal  of 
Persoxxel  Research  this  year,  I  reported 
a  study  on  "Morphologic  types  and  mental 
ability,"  in  which  1  found  a  consistent 
though  very  low  relationship  between 
"Morphologic  Index"  and  both  intelligence 
test  scores  and  scholarship.  This  partially 
supported  an  earlier  similar  finding  by  the 
late  Dr.  Sante  Naccarati  at  Columbia, 
which  was  published  under  the  title  "The 
morphologic  aspect  of  intelligence,"  in  the 
Columbia  University  Contributions  to 
Philosophy  and  Psychology,  No.  45,  1921. 
Professor  Ben  D.  Wood  calls  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  correlations  presented  by 


Naccarati,  between  morphologic  indices 
and  intelligence  tests,  are  consistently 
though  slightly  higher  than  those  between 
morphologic  indices  and  scholarship  grades. 
According  to  table  35,  page  91,  in  "Wood's 
measurement  in  higher  education,"  Nacca- 
rati found  a  positive  correlation  of  0.123 
between  morphologic  index  and  first  semes- 
ter scholarship  (67  cases),  as  compared  with 
a  correlation  of  0.356  (shown  in  table  33, 
ibid.)  between  morphologic  index  and 
scores  on  the  Thorndike  test  (75  cases).  In 
the  study  which  I  reported,  the  correlation 
between  this  index  and  scholarship  was 
0.114,  and  that  between  the  index  and  scores 
on  the  National  Research  Council  test  was 
0.136  (N  =  450).  That  is,  I  found  about 
the  same  relation  as  did  Naccarati  between 
morphologic  index  and  scholarship,  but  a 
distinctly  lower  relation  between  the  former 
and  intelligence  test  scores. 

There  are  at  least  three  possible  explana- 
tions of  my  relatively  lower  correlation 
between  this  index  and  test  scores.  First, 
the  Thorndike  test,  being  longer  and  pre- 
sumably more  rigorous,  may  actually  meas- 
ure abilities  not  adequately  measured  by 
the  shorter  test,  yet  somewhat  related  to 
morphology.  Second,  Naccarati's  rela- 
tively high  correlation  of  0.356  for  75  cases 
maj'  have  been  a  statistical  accident,  which 
was  corrected  by  using  450  cases.  Third, 
my  subjects,  who  were  students  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  may  have  shown  the  re- 
lationship less  distinctly  than  did  Nac- 
carati's subjects,  because  of  greater  racial 
heterogeneity.  For  example,  my  subjects 
were  between  15  and  20  per  cent  Jewish, 
and  the  assumption  is  commonly  made  that 
this  race  is  naturally  more  macrosplanchnic 
than  Nordics.  Doubtless  still  other  factors 
are  involved.  The  only  adequate  answer, 
of  course,  lies  in  further  investigation. 


Scholarship  and  IntelHgence 

Relationships  for  the  Same  Groups  Throughout  the 

College  Course' 

By  J.  B.  Miner,  University  of  Kentucky 

The  results  ivhich  Dr.  Miner  presents  go  to  prove  that  scholarship  in 
the  later  years  of  a  college  course  correlates  more  than  twice  as  high 
with  first  semester's  grades  as  with  scores  in  an  intelligence  test. 
The  question  is  left  open  as  to  whether  it  is  on  the  whole  desirable  to 
use  first  semester's  scholarship  as  a  forecast  of  later  college  success. 
It  is  a  waste  of  time  and  money  for  both  college  and  failing  student. 
Then,  too,  such  a  procedure  is  apt  to  instill  an  inferiority  feeling  into 
the  weak  student  and  add  an  undesirable  person  to  the  representatives 
of  the  college.  The  solution  of  the  problem  of  picking  college 
students  is  still  in  the  hands  of  research  workers. 

The  relation  of  Army  Alpha  test  scores  to  student  survival  was 
studied  in  a  group  of  460  students  who  entered  the  College  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  at  the  University  of  Kentucky  in  1921  and  1922.  There  was 
practically  no  differentiation  among  those  scoring  110  or  more,  but 
those  scoring  below  110  dropped  out  in  relatively  higher  proportion. 

The  relationship  of  Alpha  scores  and  first  semester's  scholarship  to 
later  scholarship  was  studied  for  a  group  of  102  graduates  of  the  College 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  a  group  of  41  graduates  of  the  Engineering 
College.  In  the  Arts  College  Alpha  scores  correlated  0.29,  and  first 
semester  scholarship  0.58,  with  scholarship  for  the  remaining  seven 
semesters  of  the  course.  The  corresponding  figures  for  the  Engineering 
College  were  0.19  and  0.59. 

In  the  Arts  College,  Alpha  scores  correlate  0.37,  0.20,  0.29,  and  0.29 
with  scholarship  for  each  of  the  four  years  of  the  course ;  in  the  Engineer- 
ing College  the  correlations  are  0.27^  0.25,  0.29,  and  0.56.  The  author 
interprets  these  figures  to  mean  that  in  the  Engineering  College  the 
faculty  tends  to  prefer  those  traits  of  personality  which  are  associated 
with  tested  intelHgence,  whereas  the  scholarly  qualities  developed  in 
an  Arts  course  are  not  aligned  with  tested  intelligence. 


W 


E  NEED  correlation  studies  each  coefficient  computed.     Safe  com- 

which  give  the  relation  of  test  parisons    cannot  be  made  when  the 

scores  to  scholarship  for  the 

,  X       •  11  ^  Read  at  the  national  joint  conference 

same  group  each  semester  m  college.  i      x-      i  i        „^„i,  „„^  .+„ 

.  °  on  educational  personnel  research  and  stu- 

A  common  fault  with  similar  studies  is  jent  guidance.  May  14,  1926,  at  Minne- 

that  they  have  changed  the  group  for  apolis,  Minn. 

113 


114 


jNIiner:  Scholarsliip  and  Intelligence 


correlations  are  tabulated  for  a  large 
group  the  first  semester  and  rapidly 
dwindling  parts  of  this  group  for  later 
semesters.  The  question  whether  the 
reduction  of  correlation  for  the  later 
years  in  college  is  due  to  the  gradual 
reduction  of  the  group  toward  the  sen- 
ior year  has  been  left  unanswered. 
Neither  is  it  safe  to  assume  that  one 
can  allow  for  the  differences  between 
the  groups  by  watching  to  see  whether 
the  range  of  scores  has  been  reduced, 
and  by  then  allowing  for  the  change  in 
deviation  by  correction  formulas. 

The  studies  here  reported  were  in- 
tended to  find  the  relation  of  tested 
intelligence  to  scholarship  for  the  same 
groups  and  also  to  find  the  relationship 
of  Alpha  scores  to  elimination  from 
college.  Inasmuch  as  it  was  possible 
to  follow,  for  complete  records,  only 
102  who  graduated  from  the  College  of 
Arts  and  Sciences  and  only  41  who 
graduated  from  the  Engineering  Col- 
lege, similar  studies  must  be  made 
before  any  final  conclusions  are  pos- 
sible. For  the  problem  of  elimination 
the  results  are  somewhat  more  reliable 
since  the  freshman  group  studied  con- 
sisted of  460  cases  in  the  Arts  College. 
These  were  followed  until  166  reg- 
istered for  their  senior  year. 

In  his  inaugural  address  President 
C.  C.  Little,-  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  characterized  as  "wasteful 
and  cruel"  the  common  practice  of  the 
colleges  which  report  a  mortality  of  a 
third  of  their  students  during  the 
freshman  year.  We  must  seriously  in- 
quire whether  the  experience  of  two- 
thirds  of  our  college  students  who 
never  finish  their  college  courses  is  a 

^  C.  C.  Little.  Inaugural  Address. 
School  and  Society,  1925,  vol.  22,  p.  570. 


profitable  experience  for  them.  Is  the 
theory  correct  which  assumes  that  one 
year  of  college  work  is  better  than 
none?  In  particular  is  the  theory 
right  for  those  students  who  leave 
before  their  sophomore  year,  realizing 
that  here  is  one  field  of  endeavor  in 
which  they  have  proved  to  be  failures? 

ALPHA    SCORES   AND    STUDENT 
MORTALITY 

The  data  which  are  presented  in 
table  1  throw  a  little  light   on   such 

T.\BLE  1 

Elimination  in  relation  to  Alpha  scores  for 

students   entering   College  of  Arts   and 

Sciences  in  1921  and  1922 


PER  CENT  REGISTERING  IN 

ALPHA 

NUMBER 

OP 

FRESHMEN 

SUCCEEDING  TEARS 

SCORES 

Sopho- 
more 

Junior 

Senior 

(161-197) 

49 

77.6 

61.4 

49.2 

151-160 

47 

70.2 

51.1 

38.1 

141-150 

45 

66.7 

57.8 

44.5 

131-140 

60 

76.7 

60.0 

48.3 

121-130 

62 

79.0 

59.8 

45.3 

111-120 

56 

75.0 

53.6 

52.7 

101-110 

50 

68.0 

44.0 

26.0 

91-100 

38 

71.1 

55.3 

29.0 

(39-90) 

53 

50.9 

28.3 

3.8 

problems.^  The  group  which  was 
studied  for  the  relation  of  elimination 
to  tested  intelligence  consisted  of  those 
for  whom  records  w^ere  available  who 
entered  the  College  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  at  the  University  of  Kentucky 
in  1921  and  1922.  For  these  460 
students  the  discontinuance  of  their 
course  was  not  related  to  tested  in- 
tellectual capacity  among  those  whose 

'  The  writer  is  indebted  to  Virginia  Omer 
Dur])in  and  Ertna  Juhl  for  the  preparation 
and  calculation  of  data. 


Miner:  Scholarship  and  Intelligence 


115 


score  in  Alpha  was  above  110  points. 
Below  110  on  Alpha,  tested  intelli- 
gence was  apparently  important  for 
this  group.  For  those  with  scores 
below  91  it  was  of  great  importance. 
Below  that  score  only  2  among  53 
students  who  started  the  freshman 
year  registered  finally  for  their  senior 
year.  These  two  students  were  prob- 
ably inadequately  tested  with  their 
freshman  group.  They  had  left  before 
the  study  was  made  and  could  not  be 
retested. 

The  data  are  based  on  the  fii'st  test 
records  of  students  who  were  examined 
in  groups,  usually  at  the  beginning  of 
their  college  course.  They  do  not 
allow  for  those  students  who  may  yet 
go  on  with  their  college  work  at  Ken- 
tucky or  for  those  who  have  gone  on 
at  other  colleges  after  first  starting  at 
Kentucky.  But  such  students  are 
probably  compensated  for  by  those  of 
low  ability  who  left  without  being 
tested  and  by  those  whose  intelligence 
was  better  than  their  scores  indicated. 
AU  students  who  quit  during  the  first 
six  weeks  were  also  omitted  since 
their  names  did  not  get  into  the  per- 
manent class  records  at  the  registrar's 
office. 

At  Stanford  University  it  has  been 
estimated  that  a  third  of  the  budget 
for  instructional  purposes  was  formerly 
spent  on  students  labeled  unsatis- 
factory or  doubtful.  Stanford  has 
since  changed  its  admission  procedure 
to  ehminate  a  considerable  part  of  this 
annual  waste  of  §335,000.  Those 
who  are  not  adapted  for  college  work 
will  hereafter  be  saved  many  years  of 
misplaced  endeavor  by  Stanford  Uni- 
versity. They  will  undoubtedly  find 
fields  in  which  they  are  better  adapted 


for  service.  They  should  be  able  to 
get  into  such  fields  from  six  months  to 
a  year  sooner. 

THE   PREDICTION   OF   SCHOLARSHIP 

Taking  up  next  the  correlations 
of  tested  intelhgence  and  scholarship, 
the  evidence  wiU  be  presented  for 
Kentucky  groups  in  the  College  of 
Arts  and  Sciences  and  the  College  of 
Engineering.  Even  on  the  basis  of 
these  somewhat  hmited  figures,  it 
seems  safe  to  say  that  scholarship  can 
be  better  predicted  on  the  basis  of  the 
first  semester's  average  scholarship 
in  college  than  on  the  basis  of  an 
intelhgence  test  score. 

Table  2  shows  the  relation  of  first 
semester's  scholarship  to  later  scholar- 
ship, when  scholarship  is  calculated 
in  the  ordinary  way  by  the  registrar's 
office.  This  office  weights  according 
to  credit  hours  a  mark  of  A  as  3,  B  as 
2,  C  as  1,  and  below  C  as  0.  In 
correlating  the  first  semester's  scholar- 
ship with  later  scholarship  correct 
procedure  requires  that  one  shall  not 
correlate  the  single  semester's  scholar- 
ship with  any  later  scholarship  with 
which  it  forms  a  part.  The  coeffi- 
cients are  therefore  omitted  between 
first  semester's  scholarship  and  total 
freshmen  scholarship  and  total  scholar- 
ship for  the  four  years.  Moreover,  the 
correlations  for  longer  periods  are 
never  averages  of  other  correlation 
coefficients,  but  are  always  on  the 
basis  of  average  scholarship  for  the 
periods  mentioned. 

The  first  thing  to  note  is  that  the 
first  semester's  scholarship  in  the  Arts 
college  correlates  twice  as  well  as  does 
Alpha  with  the  average  scholarship 
for  the  remaining  seven  semesters  of 


116 


Miner:  Scholarship  and  IntelUgence 


the  course.  The  actual  figures  are 
0.58  and  0.29.  In  the  Engineering 
College  the  first  semester's  scholar- 
ship correlates  three  times  as  well  as 
does  Alpha  with  the  average  of  the 


semesters  is  0.52,  while  the  median 
correlation  of  Alpha  with  the  same 
semesters  is  0.29.  In  the  Engineering 
college,  Alpha  shows  somewhat  better 
for  the  prediction  of  later  semesters. 


TABLE  2 
Correlations  of  first  semester's  scholarship  with  later  scholarship  and  correlations  of  Alpha 

scores  with  scholarship 
College  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Classes  of  1924  and  1925 


With: 

First    semester's    scholar- 
ship  

Alpha  scores 


CORRELATIONS  OF  SCHOLARSHIP  FOR  THE  PERIODS  INDICATED 


Freshman  Sophomore 


Junior 


Senior 


X    0.67    X    0.450. 520. 53]0. 580. 51  0.520. 530. 440. 520. 58 
0.50  0.37  0.37  0.07  0.32  0.20  0.29  0.26  0.29  0.30  0.25  0.29  0.29 


STANDARD  DEVIATIONS  OF  SCHOLARSHIP* 


0. 560. 51  0.48J0. 51  0.5110. 460. 55,0. 50i0.47|0. 550. 5110.49,0. 39 


College  of  Engineering,  Class  of  1923 


With: 

First    semester's   scholar 

ship 

Alpha  scores 


CORRELATIONS  OF  SCHOLARSHIP  FOB  THE  PERIODS  INDICATED 


Freshman 


Sophomore 


Junior 


Senior 


X   0.63   X    0.290. 500. 600. 340. 230. 380. 260. 630. 38;0. 59 

0.14  0.40  0.27  0.23!0.38  0.25  0.37'0.110.29  0.67'0.37'0.560.19 

I        I        I  I        I         I  i        i         I 


STAND.VRD  DEVIATIONS  OF  SCHOLARSHIP* 


0.60'0.40'0.38'0.42'0.48'0.39l0.60'0.42'0.46'0.48'0.40!0.38'0.30 


*  The  standard  deviation  of  the  Alpha  scores  was  24  in  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
and  21  in  the  College  of  Engineering. 


later  scholarship.  The  actual  figures  The  median  of  the  seven  semester- 
are  0.59  and  0.19.  If  one  asks  for  the  correlations  with  the  first  semester's 
prediction  in  the  Arts  college  from  the  scholarship  is  0.34.  The  median  of 
first  semester's  scholarship  for  any  the  correlations  of  Alpha  with  the 
later  semester's  scholarship,  the  me-  same  semesters  is  0.37,  which  is  prac- 
dian  correlation  with  any  of  the  later  tically  the  same. 


Miner:  Scholarship  and  InteUigence 


117 


On  the  whole  it  is  apparently  safe 
to  say  that,  after  a  student  has  been  in 
college  one  semester,  that  semester's 
scholarship  will  predict  his  later  aver- 
age scholarship  or  any  semester's 
scholarship  in  the  college  better 
than  will  Alpha.*  Before  the  first 
semester's  records  are  available,  how- 
ever, as  Walter  Dill  Scott^  has  stated, 
the  grades  received  in  college  agree 
better  with  scores  received  in  mental 
alertness  tests  than  with  any  other 
"procurable  single  factor." 

COLLEGE  SELECTION  AND  TESTED 
INTELLIGENCE 

One  other  comparison  may  be  made. 
What  differences  are  there  between 
colleges  in  their  selection  of  students 
during  the  college  course?  It  is  cur- 
ious that  this  problem  has  not  been 
studied  before.  It  is  most  suggestive. 
While  the  present  data  afford  only 
tentative  results,  they  open  up  a 
fascinating  field  for  further  study. 
Tracing  the  correlations  between 
Alpha  and  average  scholarship  through 
each  year  in  college,  we  find  opposite 

*  A  recent  paper  gives  correlations  be- 
tween the  first  year's  average  scholarship 
at  Yale  and  subsequent  years  for  the  same 
groups.  The  median  of  18  coefiicients  was 
0.70,  at  least  0.30  greater  than  the  intelli- 
gence test  scores  correlated  with  scholar- 
ship for  a  variety  of  groups  there.  No 
comparisons  with  test  score  predictions  are 
given  for  the  same  groups.  Tests  corre- 
lated about  0.17  higher  with  scholarship  in 
the  Arts  course  than  in  the  Science  course. 
John  E.  Anderson  and  Llewellyn  T.  Spen- 
cer. The  Predictive  Value  of  the  Yale  Clas- 
sification Tests.  School  and  Society,  1926, 
vol.  24,  305-312. 

'  Walter  Dill  Scott.  Intelligence  Tests 
for  Prospective  Freshmen.  School  and 
Society,  1922,  vol.  15,  p.  385. 


tendencies  at  Kentucky  in  the  College 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  the  College 
of  Engineering.  For  the  Arts  college 
a  significantly  higher  correlation  is 
shown  with  the  scholarship  for  the 
freshmen  year  than  for  those  years 
which  follow.  The  coefficients  in 
order  of  years  are  0.37  with  freshmen 
scholarship  and  0.20,  0.29  and  0.29 
with  the  three  following  years.  For 
the  Engineering  CoUege,  the  Alpha 
correlations  maintain  a  level  of  about 
0.27  until  the  senior  year  when  the 
coefficient  jumps  to  0.56.  The  figures 
are,  0.27,  0.25,  0.29,  0.56.  The  stand- 
ard deviations  of  Alpha  and  of  scholar- 
ship each  semester  are  given  in  the 
table,  but  they  do  not  account  for  this 
sort  of  change. 

On  the  basis  of  data  from  these 
small  classes,  any  conclusions  are,  of 
course,  tentative;  but  an  interpretation 
may  be  ventured  for  the  purpose  of 
arousing  interest  in  the  problem.  If 
the  Engineering  College  in  its  senior 
year  comes,  as  it  apparently  does,  to 
grade  its  students  more  Hke  the  scores 
represented  by  Alpha,  does  its  faculty, 
as  the  course  draws  to  a  close,  tend  to 
prefer  those  traits  of  personality  which 
are  more  in  fine  with  tested  intelh- 
gence?  Perhaps  engineering  colleges, 
more  than  any  others,  are  priding 
themselves  in  preparing  their  gradu- 
ates for  executive  positions.  Alpha  is 
known  to  correlate  fairly  well  with 
executive  success.  Is  the  engineering 
faculty  unintentionally  selecting  to- 
ward tested  intelhgence  in  the  senior 
year,  at  least  at  Kentucky? 

On  the  other  hand,  Arts  colleges 
tend  to  pride  themselves  on  develop- 
ing scholarly  qualities.  Some  of  them 
at  least  try  to  do  so.     If  so,  may  it 


118 


Miner  :  Scholarship  and  Intelligence 


not  be  that  fundamental  qualities  of 
scholarship  are  not  so  well  brought  to 
the  front  in  the  freshman  year  as  later 
in  the  Arts  courses?  Alpha  may  not 
predict  them  so  well  as  it  does  ex- 
ecutive traits.  After  the  freshmen 
year,  the  correlations  with  Alpha  in 
the  Arts  College  are  consistently  lower. 
Other  interpretations  are,  of  course, 
possible,  but  the  results  at  least  are 
true  for  these  two  examples  of  classes 
in  Arts  and  Engineering. 

The  more  fundamental  question  of 
w^hich  sort  of  traits,  those  of  the  ex- 
ecutive or  those  of  the  scholar,  are  of 
most  service  to  society,  is  merely 
opened  up  by  this  study.  Possibly 
Alpha  measures  better  such  qualities  of 
the  executive  as  quick  insight  into  new 
situations,   quick  discovery  of  prob- 


lems, quick  decisions, — traits  which 
society  quickly  and  abundantly  re- 
wards by  financial  success.  Possibly 
persistent,  broad,  and  fundamental 
scholarship  is  more  consistently  re- 
warded in  a  general  course.  Perhaps 
scholarly  and  research  qualities  may  be 
more  properly  claimed  for  its  product. 
Both  types  of  traits  are  undoubtedly 
valuable  for  society.  Who  shall  say 
which  is  more  valuable?  As  a  parting 
question,  it  may  be  asked  whether  it 
would  be  better  to  predict  by  mental 
tests  those  qualities  which  are  shown 
by  average  scholarship  for  the  four 
years  or  those  which  most  manifest 
themselves  at  the  close  of  the  course 
in  the  senior  year  when  we  have  the 
finished  product? 

{Manuscript  received  Au^mt  25th,  1926.) 


How  Boys  and  Girls  Get  Work 

By  Margaret  Barker,  Vocational  Service  for  Juniors 

One  would  expect  that  children  who  obtained  jobs  through  their 
own  initiative  or  through  recourse  to  a  commercial  agency  would 
be  of  a  higher  type  than  those  who  depended  upon  a  philanthropic 
agency.  Miss  Barker's  results  bear  this  out.  They  show  the 
unfairness  of  applying  a  common  yardstick  to  measure  the  re- 
sults produced  by  philanthropic  and  commercial  agencies. 

Comparisons  were  made  between  200  children  who  obtained  jobs 
through  a  philanthropic  agency  and  200  who  obtained  jobs  with  the 
help  of  commercial  agencies  or  friends,  or  through  their  own  efforts. 
The  former  group  were  older  when  they  left  school,  had  not  progressed 
as  far  in  school,  obtained  a  smaller  initial  wage,  and  went  into  factory 
work  in  larger  proportion. 


NON-COMMERCIAL  employ- 
ment agencies  are  frequently 
criticized  for  not  securing  posi- 
tions for  a  larger  percentage  of  the 
children  who  apply  to  them  for  jobs, 
and  for  not  placing  these  children  in 
more  lucrative  positions.  In  order  to 
find  out  if  this  criticism  is  justified ^  a 
comparison  has  been  made  between 
working  children  who  used  a  non- 
conmiercial  agency  and  children  who 
secured  jobs  through  other  means. 

GROUPS  CHOSEN  FOR  STUDY 

Information  concerning  children  ob- 
taining jobs  through  other  means  than 
the  non-commercial  agency  was  ob- 
tained from  the  Bureau  of  Women  in 
Industry,  which  made  a  survey  of  the 
conditions  of  working  children  in  New 
York  City  in  1924.^     They  examined 

^  "Health  Conditions  of  the  Working 
Child."  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry, 
New  York,  1924. 


and  interviewed  200  children  in  the 
East  Side  Continuation  School  and  200 
in  the  West  Side  Continuation  School. 
They  selected  children  who  were  under 
sixteen  years  of  age  and  had  been 
working  for  six  months.  Children  can 
begin  work  in  the  State  of  New  York 
at  the  age  of  fourteen;  accordingly  no 
child  was  selected  who  was  under 
fourteen  and  a  half.  From  the  400 
interviewed,  200  were  chosen  who  had 
obtained  jobs  through  other  means 
than  a  non-commercial  agency;  that 
is,  through  the  help  of  commercial 
agencies  charging  a  fee,  through  the 
assistance  of  friends,  through  answer- 
ing advertisements,  through  their 
own  efforts,  etc.  We  shall  call  this 
Group   1. 

From  applicants  to  the  Vocational 
Service  for  Juniors,  a  privately  sup- 
ported non-commercial  agency  in  New 
York  City,  a  group  was  selected  that 
could  be  compared  with  this  one.     In 


119 


120 


Barker  :  How  Boys  and  Girls  Get  Work 


order  to  effect   such   comparison,   it  was  recorded,  though  facts  concerning 

was  necessary  to  select  persons  who  those  items  starred  were  not  complete 

corresponded    as   closely   as    possible  enough  to  furnish  a  reliable  basis  of 

with  the  above  group  with  respect  to  comparison: 

age  and  time  of  year  at  which  the  job 

was  obtained.     For  example,  a  child  ^ 

obtaining  a  job  in  September  would  Grade  completed 

have   to  be   compared    with  a   child  Age  at  leaving  school 

TABLE  1 

Two  hundred  children  obtaining  jobs  through  a  non-commercial  agency  {Group  2)  compared 

with  two  hundred  children  obtaining  jobs  through  other  means  {Group  1) 


GIHL8 

BOYS 

Group  1 

Group  2 

Group  1 

Group  2 

Age  at  leav- 
ing school 

14.71  years 
(7  =  0.605 

14.85  years 
a  =  0.673 

14.70  years 
a  =  0.549 

14.90  years 
a-  =  0.741 

Difference  =  0.14    <t  diff  =  0.127 

Difference  =  0.20    <r  diff  =  0.130 

Grade  com- 
pleted 

8B  +0.4  terms                  SB 
a  =  1.80                      a   =  1.78 

8B  +0.6  terms 
<T  =  1.76 

8B  +0.3  terms 
<T  =  1.54 

Difference  =  0.4<;  diff  =  0.358 

Difference  =  0.3  a  diff  =  0.331 

Initial  wage 
on  present 
job 

$11.46 
a     =     2.06 

$10.84 
<T  =  1.37 

$11.87 
<r  =   1.11 

$10.93 
ff  =  1.08 

Difference  =  0.62  a  diff  =  0.349 

Difference  =  0.94  a  diff  =  0.215 

Age  at  re- 
ceiving 
job 

15.48  years               15.23  years 
a  =  0.75                     <r  =  0.95 

15.42  years 
<r  =  0.57 

15.17  years 
(7  =  1.02 

Difference  =  0.25  a  diff  =  0.171 

Difference  =  0.25  <r  diff  =  0.165 

Number  of 
jobs 

1.99 
a  =  1.61 

2.03 
a  =  1.09 

2.06 

a-  =   1.88 

2.04 
a  =   1.00 

Difference  =  0.04  a  dm  =  0.275 

Difference  =  0.02  a  diff  =  0.301 

obtaining  a  job  in  September,  one  in 
October  with  one  in  October,  and  so 
on,  as  jobs  vary  at  different  times  of 
the  year.  In  order  to  make  the  com- 
parisons, the  files  of  the  above-men- 
tioned agency  were  examined  and  200 
cases  were  extracted — 100  boys  and 
100  girls.  "We  shall  call  this  Group  2. 
Information  on  the  following  items 


Nationality  of  father 

Present  employer 

Kind  of  business 

Kind  of  job 

How  job  was  obtained 

Initial  wage  on  present  job 
•Length  of  time  on  job 

Number  of  jobs 
•Length  of  longest  job 

School  attended 


Barker  :  How  Boys  and  Girls  Get  Work 


121 


RESULTS 

The  results  are  summarized  in  tables 
]  to  4.  Ad  analysis  of  these  results  is 
giveD  below. 

Age  at  leaving  school 

The  members  of  Group  1,  those 
who  obtaip  their  jobs  by  other  means 


TABLE  2 

Nationality  of  Groups  1  and  2 

GROUP 

1 

GROUP 
2 

American 

54 

62 

27 

9 

12 

4 

2 

11 

5 

4 

1 

2 

1 

3 

1 

1 
1 

53 

Italian 

50 

Russian 

30 

Irish 

28 

Austrian 

11 

Polish 

6 

Bohemian 

4 

German 

3 

Hungarian 

3 

English 

2 

Czecho-Slovakian 

2 

Australian 

2 

West  Indian 

2 

Greek 

1 

Lithuanian 

1 

Scotch 

1 

Algerian 

1 

Central  American 

Swiss 

Alsatian 

Canadian 

Total 

200 

200 

than  the  non-commercial  agency,  are 
younger  when  they  leave  school. 
True,  these  age  differences  are  small, 
being  only  0.1 4  years  in  the  case  of  the 
girls,  and  0.20  in  the  case  of  the  boys. 
The  chances  that  the  difference  is  real 
are  86  in  100  in  the  case  of  the  girls, 
and  93  in  100  in  the  case  of  the  boys. 

Grade  completed 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  children 
of  Group  1  were  younger  when  they 


went  into  industry,  they  had  pro- 
gressed farther  in  school  than  had  the 
children  of  Group  2.  The  differences 
of  0.4  school  terms  (girls),  and  0.3 
terms  (boys)  have  a  probability  of 
reahty  amounting  respectively  to  86 
and  82  in  100. 

Initial  wage  on  present  job 

In  respect  to  the  initial  wage 
received  on  employment,  Group  1  is 
also  superior.  There  is  a  difference  of 
62  cents  (girls)  and  94  cents  (boys) 


TABLE  3 
Kind  of  job  held 

GIRLS 

B0T8 

a. 
s 
o 

u 

O 

per 
cent 

23 
38 
18 
21 
0 
0 

100 

CM 

a 

3 
O 

c 

per 
cent 

20 

49 

8 

22 

1 

0 

100 

a 

2 

a 

per 
cent 

10 
17 

4 
33 

3 
33 

100 

a 
a 
o 

u 

O 

Trade 

per 
cent 

,5 

Factory 

1? 

Mercantile 

0 

Office 

?3 

Miscellaneous 

0 

Errands 

60 

Total 

100 

with  a  probabiUty  of  reality  of  96  and 
99  m  100. 

Age  at  receiving  present  job 

As  Group  1  was  older  by  about  three 
months  at  the  time  when  the  job  con- 
sidered was  received,  this  might  con- 
ceivably be  thought  the  reason  for  the 
difference  in  salary.  Since,  however, 
there  is  no  correlation  between  ages 
and  salary  in  the  cases  considered,  we 
must  account  for  it  on  other  grounds. 

Number  of  jobs 

The  differences  in  the  number  of 
jobs  held  are  very  small :  0.04  and  0.02. 


122 


Barker  :  How  Boys  and  Girls  Get  Work 


They  are  too  slight  to  be  significant. 
This  is  the  one  respect  in  which  no 
positive  difference  is  shown  between 
Group  1  and  Group  2,  and  inasmuch 
as  we  do  not  know  whether  the  number 
of  jobs  held  indicates  superiority  or 
not,  no  conclusions  can  be  drawn 
from  this  fact. 

Nationality 

As  shown  in  table  2,  the  Irish  seem 
to  depend  more  upon  the  non-com- 
mercial agency,  while  the  Germans 
appear  to  use  other  resources.  With 
these  exceptions  the  two  groups  do  not 

TABLE  4 

Means  employed  by  members  of  Group  1  in 

securing  job 


Friend 

Relative 

Advertisement 

Application 

Sign 

Commercial  agency 


.J 

00 

>• 

< 

o 

o 

31 

61 

35 

34 

24 

58 

17 

20 

37 

7 

19 

26 

3 

5 

8 

4 

1 

0 

32 
29 
19 
13 
4 
3 


show   any  appreciable   differences  in 
nationahty. 

Kind  of  job 

Table  3  shows  the  differences  in 
kind  of  job  held.  Of  the  girls  using 
the  non-commercial  agency,  almost 
50  per  cent  were  placed  in  factory 
work,  whereas  in  Group  1  only  38 
per  cent  went  to  work  in  factories. 
Group  2  contains  fewer  persons  holding 
positions  in  trades  and  stores,  but 
practically  the  same  number  employed 
in  offices.  The  larger  number  of  fac- 
tory workers  probably  indicates  that 
Group  2  is  lower  in  type.     The  boys 


differ  also.  Sixty  per  cent  of  Group  2 
are  errand  boys  as  compared  with  33 
per  cent  of  Group  1.  No  store  jobs 
are  held  by  members  of  Group  2  and 
fewer  trade  and  factory  positions. 
As  with  the  girls,  it  seems  that  Group 
1  is  superior  in  kind  of  jobs  held. 

Means  employed   in  securing  job 

It  is  interesting  to  note  by  what 
means  the  members  of  Group  1  who 
did  not  resort  to  the  non-commercial 
agency  obtained  their  jobs.  This  is 
shown  in  table  4.  Here  it  is  seen  that 
60  per  cent  rehed  on  the  interest  of 
friends  or  relatives,  19  per  cent  an- 
swered advertisements,  and  13  per 
cent  used  enough  initiative  to  apply  to 
an  employer  directly.  The  remaining 
7  per  cent  saw  signs  or  paid  a  fee  to  a 
commercial  agency.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  boys  manifested 
greater  initiative  and  activity  than 
did  the  girls,  the  per  cent  applying 
directly  for  a  job  being  twice  as  large. 

CONCLUSIONS 

In  this  investigation  we  have  at- 
tempted to  compare  a  group  of  work- 
ing children  who  secured  their  jobs 
without  the  help  of  a  free  agency  with 
a  group  who  obtained  their  jobs 
through  the  services  of  such  an  organi- 
zation. 

We  found  that  the  former  group 
(1)  were  farther  advanced  in  school,  (2) 
w^ere  younger  than  the  other  group,  (3) 
earned  more  money,  and  (4)  obtained 
jobs  which  are  generally  recognized  to 
be  of  higher  calibre  than  those  in 
which  the  children  were  placed  by  the 
philanthropic  agency  whose  records 
were  examined.     Though  the  numeri- 


Barker  :  How  Boys  and  Girls  Get  Work 


123 


cal  differences  between  these  groups 
are  small,  they  are  found  to  be  fairly- 
significant  when  tested  by  statistical 
methods. 

The  differences  all  favor  the  children 
who  secure  jobs  without  the  help  of 
the  non-commercial  agency.  The  dif- 
ferences point  to  the  conclusion  that  in 
the  respects  compared  the  children  in 
Group  1  are  superior  to  those  who 
come  to  the  philanthropic  agency. 
The  former  are  more  competent  to 
look  after  themselves  and  obtain  ad- 
vantageous positions.  The  children 
who    come    to    the    non-commercial 


agency  are,  relatively  speaking, 
weaker.  When  they  enter  occupa- 
tional life  they  cannot  compete  suc- 
cessfully with  their  fellows  possessing 
greater  initiative.  It  is  often  alleged 
that  the  non-commercial  agency  fails 
to  secure  the  best  positions  for  its 
proteges.  If  this  is  true,  these  figures 
strongly  suggest  that  the  reason  Hes 
not  in  the  inefficiency  of  the  non- 
commercial agency,  but  in  the  rela- 
tively inferior  nature  of  the  human 
material  with  which  it  has  to  work. 

{Manuscript  received  December  17,  1926.) 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,  VOL.  VI,  NO.  2 


The  May  Conference  on  Leadership 

By  B,  V.  INIoORE,  Pennsylvania  State  College 


THE  joint  conference  on  Leader- 
ship of  the  Taylor  Society  and 
the  Personnel  Research  Federa- 
tion followed  the  program  very  much 
as  it  was  planned  and  announced  in  a 
previous  number  of  the  Jourxal. 
The  general  satisfaction  with  the  ses- 
sions was  enhanced  by  the  hospitality 
of  the  National  Research  Council  in 
whose  beautiful  home  the  meetings 
were  held. 

The  first  paper  Monday  morning  by 
Ordway  Tead  served  well  as  a  keynote 
address  for  presenting  a  definition  and 
an  analysis  of  the  subject  of  the  con- 
ference. Mr.  Tead  stated  that  the 
newer  ideal  of  leadership,  as  set  forth 
by  John  Dewey  and  others,  is  replac- 
ing the  feudal  concept  of  leadership. 
This  new  ideal  conceives  leadership  as 
successful  in  so  far  as  the  ends  of  the 
ones  lead  are  identified  with  the  ends 
of  the  leader.  Mr.  Tead  analyzed  the 
mental  qaalities  of  the  leader  in  terms 
of  the  functions  the  leader  must  per- 
form. Thus  the  leader  must  be  a 
planner  and  think  consciously  by  the 
scientific  method;  also  he  must  be  a 
technician,  a  commander,  a  trainer, 
and  an  energizer. 

General  M.  B.  Stewart,  Superin- 
tendent of  ^yest  Point  Military  Acad- 
emy, in  a  well  organized  and  clearly 
stated  address,  presented  his  analysis  of 
the  fundamentals  of  leadership.  This 
was  a  statement  of  opinion  based  on  an 


analysis  of  the  leadership  qualities  of 
George  Washington  and  Robert  E.  Lee, 
and  also  verified  by  long  experience 
in  training  young  men  for  military 
leadership.  General  Stewart  defined 
leadership  as  the  ability  to  impress 
the  will  of  the  leader  on  those  led 
and  induce  obedience,  respect,  loyalty, 
and  cooperation.  The  characteristics 
of  a  leader  are  devotion  to  duty,  prc^ 
fessional  attainments,  a  sense  of  fair- 
ness and  justice,  courage,  humanness, 
and  a  sense  of  humor. 

In  the  discussion,  Wallace  Clark 
stated  that  the  leader  has  (a)  a  desire 
to  help  others  and  knows  how,  (b) 
a  tendency  to  simplify  procedures,  and 
(c)  a  tendency  toward  action.  He  sug- 
gested the  use  of  Gantt  Man  Record 
Charts  in  the  selection  of  leaders. 

Dr.  L.  L.  Thurstone  described 
briefly  three  scientific  studies  that 
are  approaching  the  problem  of 
leadership  by  objective  methods. 
(1)  Dr.  Rich's  study  of  body 
chemistry  is  revealing  differences  in 
the  body  chemistry  of  persons  who 
differ  in  personality  traits;  but  it  is 
not  known  which  is  cause  and  which  is 
effect.  (2)  W.  H.  Cowley  is  working 
on  the  differences  between  leaders  and 
non-leaders.  (3)  The  observations  of 
children  in  the  nursery  at  Hull  House 
reveal  that  some  children  are  able  to 
get  the  toys,  and  other  children  seem 
to  be  satisfied  in  letting  them  take  the 


124 


Moore:  May  Conference  on  Leadership 


125 


toys.  The  difference  between  these 
children  is  not  one  of  intelligence. 

Dr.  Bingham  pointed  out  the  need 
for  reconciling  the  older  with  the  newer 
conceptions  of  leadership,  and  gave 
three  approaches  to  the  problem, 
namely,  the  philosophical,  the  induc- 
tive, and  the  experimental.  Dr.  J.  H. 
WilUts  further  emphasized  the  neces- 
sity for  analysis  and  experiment  in 
order  that  leadership  might  be  lifted 
out  of  the  evangelical  stage  and  into 
one  where  ordinary  persons  might  im- 
prove their  leadership.  He  mentioned 
the  work  of  Dr.  Ludlom  at  the  Phila- 
delphia Psychopathic  Hospital  as  a 
physiological  approach  akin  to  that  of 
Dr.  Rich  at  the  Institute  for  Juvenile 
Research  in  Chicago. 

In  the  symposium  held  Monday 
afternoon  on  the  question,  "How  are 
leaders  being  developed?"  Professor 
S.  H.  Shchter's  paper  stood  out  as  a 
careful  study  of  the  undeveloped  re- 
sources of  leadership,  initiative,  and 
detailed  information  which  leaders  or 
managers  under  present  systems  fail 
to  make  the  most  of.  He  described 
several  concrete  instances  in  which  the 
initiative  and  leadership  exhibited  by 
employees  would  indicate  that  the 
resources  of  leadership  would  be  more 
adequately  employed  in  some  type  of 
cooperative  management.  Such  co- 
operation compels  supervisors  to  have 
a  better  knowledge  of  personnel  ad- 
ministration, for  they  must  have  the 
goodwill  of  the  men.  It  demands  a 
higher  type  of  leadership. 

Dean  Willard  E.  Hotchkiss  dis- 
cussed the  measures  employed  by  the 
Graduate  School  of  Business  at  Stan- 
ford University  to  select  potential 
leaders,  especially  with  relation  to  their 


special  interests  and  aptitudes.  The 
steps  in  producing  leaders  are  (1)  selec- 
tion, (2)  training,  and  (3)  placement, 
and  the  effort  at  Stanford  is  to  put 
young  men  in  contact  with  leaders  at 
each  step,  and  to  get  them  to  do  their 
own  creative  thinking. 

W.  H.  Tukey  described  in  detail 
the  program  for  developing  leaders  in 
the  Installation  Department  of  the 
Vv'estern  Electric  Company.  It  is 
based  on   the  following  conceptions: 

1.  That  a  fundamental  understanding 
of  the  defined  responsibilities  of  their 
positions  is  essential. 

2.  They  need  the  opportunity  to  get  the 
overall  viewpoint  of  their  work  and  its 
place  in  the  general  scheme. 

3.  The  ability  to  accept  responsibility  is 
acquired  in  proportion  as  duties  are  added 
and  confidences  developed  by  encouraging 
the  complete  carrying  through  of  respon- 
sibilities previously  assigned. 

4.  That  analytical  and  planning  abilities 
should  be  developed  in  order  that  the  activi- 
ties they  lead  may  follow  an  orderly  se- 
quence and  that  their  efforts  and  results 
shall  not  be  superficial. 

5.  That  tactfulness  in  dealing  with  others 
is  developed  both  by  example  and  construc- 
tive comment. 

6.  That  service  standards  and  ideals  are 
more  to  be  considered  than  self-interest. 

7.  That  the  success  we  endeavor  to  ob- 
tain in  human  relations  is  very  dependent 
upon  our  leaders'  comprehension  of  Com- 
pany policies. 

8.  That  leaders  are  best  developed  by 
other  leaders  successively  in  line  who  have 
learned  how  to  teach  and  to  train  and  who 
by  making  the  most  of  opportunities  are 
improving  their  own  leadership. 

The  problems  of  leadership  in  coal 
mine  operation  were  presented  by  H.  S. 
Gilbertson  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  and 
Navigation  Company,  with  special 
reference  to  the  new  responsibilities  of 
foremen  as  to  costs,  safetj'',  equipment, 


126 


Moore  :  May  Conference  on  Leadership 


right  "personnel  conditions,"  and 
finally  public  relations,  it  being  con- 
sidered a  definite  part  of  the  job  of  the 
foreman  to  establish  the  industry 
in  the  confidence  of  the  entire  com- 
munity. 

At  the  dinner  meeting,  two  different 
viewpoints  were  presented  in  the  ad- 
dresses. Graham  Wallas,  of  the  Lon- 
don School  of  Economics,  in  a  very 
effective  manner,  asked  whether  our 
modern  leaders  were  interested  too 
much  in  material  achievement  at  the 
cost  of  more  inclusive  and  more  per- 
manent human  satisfactions. 

Arthur  H.  Young  defined  successful 
leadership  as  the  abiUty  to  get  results, 
implying  tangible  results;  but  he  ques- 
tioned the  possibility  of  measurmg 
or  testing  this  abihty  by  objective 
methods. 

In  the  session  on  measuring  morale 
and  leadership  ability.  Dr.  D.  R. 
Craig  discussed  seven  criteria  of  the 
success  of  leadership,  namely,  per 
capita  productivity,  quality  of  work, 
stability  of  labor,  accepted  units  of 
work,  number  of  grievances,  number  of 
strikes,  leaders'  opinions.  He  con- 
cluded that  the  first  three  were  the 
only  practical  ones.^ 

In  discussing  Dr.  Craig's  paper 
Mr.  E.  R.  Burton  of  the  White  Motor 
Company  presented  the  difficulties  in 
determining  whose  leadership  was 
beng  measured  by  such  indices  as 
Dr.  Craig  proposed.  Mr.  Burton  ex- 
pressed the  view  that,  as  industry  is 
actually  conducted,  despite  our  neat 
lines  of  authority  and  areas  of  respon- 

^  Dr.  Craig's  paper  will  be  published 
in  the  next  number  of  The  Personnel 
Journal. 


sibility  as  shown  in  organization  charts, 
morale,  even  in  a  small  department, 
is  the  resultant  of  many  forces  over 
which  the  department  head  exercises 
little  or  no  control  even  where  they 
affect  his  department  differently  from 
others.  Dr.  L.  J.  O'Rourke,  of  the 
United  States  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion, suggested  that  the  number  and 
kind  of  new  methods  introduced  by  a 
leader,,  or  changes  in  old  methods, 
might  be  taken  as  an  indication  of  his 
leadership. 

Mr.  J.  David  Houser  reported  what 
approached  most  nearly  a  genuine 
scientific  and  objective  measurement 
of  the  success  of  leadership.  The 
technique  is  to  present  pairs  of  cards 
to  employees  on  each  of  which  is 
briefly  described  a  desirable  element  in 
good  management  such  as  stability  of 
employment,  opportunity  for  advance- 
ment, fair  pay,  etc.  From  the  pref- 
erences shown  by  many  employees  for 
certain  elements  of  management,  a 
combined  order  of  importance  for  these 
elements  is  obtained.  Similarly,  em- 
ployees are  also  asked  to  judge  which 
elements  are  given  most  attention  by 
the  management.  Thus  one  order 
shows  what  the  employees  want,  and 
the  other  what  they  think  they  are 
getting  from  the  management,  or 
leadership  of  their  organization.  The 
correlation  between  the  two  orders  is 
an  approximate  index  of  morale,  or 
the  effectiveness  of  leadership.  The 
elements  may  also  be  judged  by  execu- 
tives, and  comparison  of  their  opinions 
with  those  of  the  employees  is  illu- 
minating as  to  the  responsibilities  of 
executives  and  the  degree  of  their  ful- 
fillment. 


Moore:  May  Conference  on  Leadership 


127 


In  the  closing  session  Dr.  L.  L. 
Thurstone  pointed  out  the  value  of 
pure  research  and  the  contributions  of 
studies  in  other  fields  to  the  problems 
of  leadership.  He  also  cautioned  in- 
vestigators against  the  too  frequent 
assumption  that  scientific  procedure 
was  a  substitute  for  the  thinking 
which  must  precede  research.  Dr. 
H.  S.  Person  advocated  the  uniting  of 
many  approaches  to  the  problem,  such 
as  those  of  Craig,  Houser,  and  others, 
in  order  that  definite  hypotheses  for 
research  might  be  more  quickly  formu- 
lated. He  suggested  a  study  by  means 
of  questionnaires  or  an  aggregate  of 
personal  interviews,  to  determine  who 
are  the  leaders  in  specific  groups  and 
just  what  these  leaders  do.  Miss 
Florence  C.  Thorne  took  up  certain 
problems  of  mass  production  as  related 
to  leadership,  such  as  avoiding  me- 
chanization of  the  worker  and  ascer- 
taining what  information  was  most 
important  to  give  them  about  manage- 
ment problems. 

Discussions  of  the  value  or  possi- 
bility of  analyzing  leadership  into 
specific  abilities  and  attempting  to  de- 
velop these  abilities  in  individuals  were 
presented  by  Mr.  N.  L.  Hoopingarner 
and  Dr.  C.  R.  Mann.  Mr.  Hoopin- 
garner maintained  that  leadership 
possibilities  or  qualities  could  be  dis- 
covered and  developed  in  any  individ- 
ual. Dr.  Mann  called  attention  to 
the  fallacy  of  discussing  leadership  in 
the  abstract.  To  say  that  success  of 
leaders  is  due  to  a  trait  of  leadership 
is  like  saying  that  electricity  is  elec- 
trons in  motion,  and  then  assuming  we 
have  explained  it.  Leadership  is  the 
pecuHar  genius  of  an  individual  finding 


its  greatest  effectiveness  in  leading 
others.  Dr.  Bingham  also  emphasized 
this  point  by  saying  that  some  imply 
that  leadership  exists  apart  from  its 
manifestations;  whereas  our  question 
is  how  to  study  these  important  forms 
of  action. 

In  the  second  session,  Mr.  Glenn  A. 
Bowers  questioned  whether  the  papers 
and  discussions  had  really  attacked 
the  problem  of  the  conference  or  added 
anything  to  its  solution.  There  was  a 
division  of  opinion  on  this ;  but  several 
speakers  in  the  discussion  maintained 
that  such  papers  were  necessary  at  first 
in  order  to  get  a  clear  and  generally 
accepted  definition  of  the  problem,  and 
in  order  to  get  the  known  separated 
from  the  unknown.  It  was  further 
pointed  out  that  there  was  need  for 
speculation  and  the  formulating  of  hy- 
potheses before  there  could  be  experi- 
mentation and  objective  verification  of 
any  interpretations  and  procedures. 

Undoubtedly  the  need  of  a  con- 
ference providing  for  such  discussion 
was  proved  by  the  two  different  con- 
cepts or  phases  of  leadership  which 
appeared  several  times  during  the  con- 
ference. One  concept  was  that  typi- 
fied by  the  definition  stated  by  Ordway 
Tead.  It  emphasized  the  leadership 
which  develops  a  morale  for  a  more 
permanent  and  more  inclusive  type  of 
efficiency  in  which  the  interests  of  the 
followers  are  considered.  The  other 
concept  was  well  presented  by  Mr. 
Young,  in  which  immediate  tangible 
results  are  the  measure  of  leadership. 
This  difference  in  concepts  or  at  least 
in  emphasis  is  probably  based  on  a 
difference  in  philosophy,  and  justifies 
discussion  that  brings  out  the  issues 


128 


jMoore  :  May  Conference  on  Leadership 


and  helps  us  arrive  at  a  common  under- 
standing of  the  real  problem.  Is 
leadership  different  from  management? 
Is  one  a  means  to  the  other?  It  seems 
that  one  concept  imphes  that  good 
management  for  the  mutual  benefit 


of  both  leader  and  led  is  the  means  to 
leadership  and  the  justification  for  it. 
The  other  concept  considers  that 
leadership  is  a  means  to  good  manage- 
ment which  gets  the  results  desired 
by  the  leaders. 


Book  Reviews 


HOW  TO  DO  RESEARCH  WORK 


By  W.  C.  Schluter. 


New  York:  Prentice-Hall,  Ijic,  1926. 
Pp.  137 


Reviewed  by  Dorothy  M.  Sells 


The  word  research  has  suffered  much 
abuse  wathin  recent  years.  Perhaps  it  is 
the  go-to-coUege  habit  that  has  endowed 
researching  with  such  popularity  that  al- 
most any  form  of  hunting  from  that  of  the 
charwoman  in  the  waste  basket  to  the  seek- 
ing of  the  philosopher  for  the  sources  of 
universal  law  is  honored  by  the  application 
of  that  term. 

Whether  it  is  possible  to  teach  anyone 
how  to  do  research  in  the  best  sense  of  that 
word  is  a  question;  so  much  depends  upon 
the  native  analytical  ability,  the  penetra- 
tion and  the  power  to  coordinate  material 
resident  in  the  researcher.  But  for  ordi- 
nary novices  and  ordinary  subjects  certainly 
Mr.  Schluter's  manual  has  possibilities  of 
being  an  aid.  The  book  sets  forth  in  a  clear 
and  concise  fashion  the  rudiments  of  re- 
search method.  Its  general  tone  is  scien- 
tific, if  mechanical,  and  its  tendency'  should 
be  to  inculcate  in  the  student  fairness  and 
accuracy  of  thought,  even  though  dullness 
may  be  the  result;  more  than  that,    the 


author  recommends  the  use  of  imagination 
with  discretion,  though  it  is  doubtful  if  he 
who  could  follow  any  one's  else  plan  of  work 
would  be  tempted  too  far  in  that  direction. 
The  fact  remains,  unfortunate,  but  still  a 
fact,  that  a  combination  of  accuracy  and 
imagination  is  still  too  rarely  found  among 
humans,  and  especially  is  this  lack  to  be  re- 
gretted from  the  point  of  view  of  research, 
for  how,  after  all,  is  truth  to  be  found  but 
by  discrimination  tempered  with  insight? 

Towards  the  development  of  that  power, 
"How  to  Do  Research  Work"  offers  no  help 
whatsoever.  For  the  student  starting  an 
investigation,  however,  or  the  untrained 
mind  caught  in  the  meshes  of  an  unsolved 
problem,  the  perusal  of  Mr.  Schluter's 
book  would  prove  of  assistance,  if  it  did  not 
completely  close  his  mind  to  the  possibili- 
ties of  creating  his  own  technique  through 
experience. 

And  in  the  end,  pray,  what  do  we  learn 
except  through  our  own  experience  and 
mistakes? 


129 


130 


Book  Reviews 


THE  MEASUREMENT  OF  INTELLIGENCE 

By  E.  L.  Thorndike,  E.  0.  Bregman,  M.  B.  Cohh,  Ella 
Woodyard,  arid  the  Staff  of  the  Division  of  Psychology  of 
the  Institute  of  Educational  Research  of  Teachers  College, 
Columbia  University.  Neiv  York:  Bureau  of  Puhlica- 
tions,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  1926.     Pp. 

616 


Reviewed  by  Arthur  S.  Otis 


This  600  page  book  reports  investigations 
and  results  made  possible  by  a  grant  from 
the  Carnegie  Corporation. 

The  researches  described  are  typical  of 
the  other  researches  made  by  Dr.  Thorndike 
and  his  students  in  that  they  aim  to  go  to 
the  bottom  of  this  matter  of  the  measure- 
ment of  intelligence. 

Some  typical  chapter  titles  are:  Chapter 
II,  The  Measurement  of  Difficulty;  Chapter 
V,  The  Measurement  of  the  Intellectual 
Difficulty  of  Tasks  by  a  Consensus  of 
Expert  Opinion;  Chapter  X,  The  Absolute 
Zero  of  Intellectual  Difficulty;  Chapter  XI, 
The  Measurement  of  the  Altitude  of  an 
Individual  Intellect;  Chapter  XV,  The 
Nature  of  Intellect. 

The  first  chapter  opens  with  a  discussion 
of  the  present  instruments  for  measuring 
intelligence  and  discusses  •'Ambiguity  in 
Content,"  "Arbitrariness  of  Units,"  "Am- 
biguity in  Significance,"  etc. 

The  authors  quite  naturally  conclude 
that,  after  all,  for  practical  purposes  we 
must  define  intelligence  in  terms  of  the 
aliility  to  perform  the  actual  tasks  laid 
down  in  the  intelligence  tests  and,  for  their 
purposes,  it  is  decided  to  define  intelligence 
as  a  composite  ability  in  four  series  of 
tasks — completion,  arithmetic  problems, 
vocabulary,  and  directions,  and,  to  symbo- 
lize this  particular  type  of  intelligence,  the 
letters  CAVD  are  used.  Numerous  tests 
are  devised  to  measure  this  "intellect 
CAVD,"  and  the  relationship  is  found 
between  such  measures  and  the  present 
common  measures  of  intelligence  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  nature  of  in- 
telligence, the  form  of  its  distribution,  and 
so  on. 

The  following  samples  of  the  italicized 
portions  of  the  summary  paragraphs  throw 


additional  light  on  the  character  and  pur- 
pose of  the  book. 

"(1)  What  is  measured  is  a  product  pro- 
duced, a  task  achieved." 

"(2)  The  measurement  of  any  of  the 
products  produced  involves  valuation." 
(By  this  the  authors  mean,  as  they  explain, 
that  any  product  that  is  considered  to  re- 
quire a  higher  degree  of  intelligence  to 
produce  than  another,  is  a  better  product.) 

"  (3)  In  measuring  intellect,  we  favor  the 
arrangement  of  tasks  so  that  the  score  could 
be  success  or  failure." 

"  (4)  The  measurement  of  the  ability  is  in 
essence  an  inventory." 

"  (5)  The  tasks  in  such  an  inventory  vary 
in  difficulty.   .    .    ." 

"(6)  There  are  usually  more  tasks  than 
one  at  each  level  of  difficulty  so  that  the 
range  or  width  of  the  ability  at  &ny  level 
may  be  measured  by  the  percentage  correct 
at  that  level,  and,  if  desired,  a  measure  of 
surface  may  be  made  by  summing  the 
widths  at  all  levels." 

"(14)  Composite  tasks  will  be  efficient 
instruments  of  measurement  in  proportion 
as  their  single  elements  are  equal  in  diffi- 
culty .  .  .  and  give  a  high  multiple  cor- 
relation with    ability    a"    (total    ability). 

"(,16)  These  composite  tasks  should  also 
be  measured  in  respect  of  their  differences 
from  an  appro.ximate  absolute  zero  of 
ability  a." 

The  166  tables  of  data  included  in  the 
book  represent  a  vast  amount  of  statistical 
labor  and  constitute  a  mine  of  information 
for  those  interested  in  the  statistical  rela- 
tionships of  intelligence  tests.  It  would 
appear  that  about  all  that  can  be  said  in  a 
theoretical  way  regarding  the  nature  and 
the  measurement  of  intelligence  has  been 
said  in  this  book. 


Book  Reviews 


131 


OBJECTIVE  EXAMINATION  METHODS  IN  THE  SOCIAL  STUDIES 

By  G.  M.  Ruch  and  Others.     Chicago:  Scott,  Foresman 
and  Company,  1926.     Pp.  123 

Reviewed  by  Clifford  Woody 


This  volume  by  Ruch  and  his  collabora- 
tors is  in  strict  reality  a  compendium  of 
statistical  studies  dealing  with  the  common 
topic  "Examination  Methods  in  the  Social 
Studies."  Each  of  the  statistical  studies  is 
complete  in  itself  and  has  its  own  summary 
and  conclusions,  yet  each  study  is  closely 
related  to  the  general  theme  of  the  book. 
The  studies  in  the  book  divide  themselves 
into  three  types:  (1)  Those  setting  forth 
comparisons  of  the  reliability  of  the  essay- 
type  of  examination  as  given  by  some  states 
as  a  requirement  for  the  eighth-grade 
diploma  or  as  given  by  the  Regents  in  New 
York  State,  and  informal  objective  exami- 
nations covering  the  same  subject  matter; 
(2)  those  presenting  the  relative  merits  of 
the  different  types  of  informal  objective 
tests,  i.e.,  the  merits  of  the  true-false  type, 
the  completion  type,  the  multiple  response 
types  with  the  number  of  possible  responses 
varying  from  three  to  seven;  (3)  those 
dealing  with  the  relative  merits  of  existing 
standardized  tests  in  the  field  of  social 
science. 

Throughout  the  book  there  is  a  statistical 
treatment  of  examination  technique.  The 
authors,  after  establishing  the  fact  that 
informal  objective  tests  are  more  reliable 
than  the  essay-type  of  examinations  and 
possess  other  advantages  not  possessed 
by  the  essay-type  of  examination,  establish 
the  following  facts  concerning  various  types 
of  informal  objective  tests:  (1)  Of  the  six 
types  of  objective  examinations  used  the 
recall  is  the  most  reliable ;  i2)  it  is  better  to 


instruct  the  subject  to  answer  only  those 
questions  of  which  he  is  reasonably  sure ;  (^3) 
the  difficulty  of  the  six  types  of  tests  indi- 
cated by  the  mean  scores  are — recall,  true- 
false,  seven-response,  three-response,  five- 
response,  and  two-response ;  (A)  the  tests 
ranked  in  the  follo\ving  order  in  regard  to 
mean  time  required,  from  least  to  greatest: 
true-false,  two-response,  three-response, 
five-response,  seven-response,  and  recall; 
for  scoring,  the  true-false  takes  the  greatest 
amount  of  time,  the  recall  the  least  amount 
of  time;  the  others  arranged  in  descending 
order  are  seven,  five,  three,  and  two-re- 
sponse types.  Space  does  not  permit  quot- 
ing other  conclusions  drawn  but  these 
indicate  the  nature  of  the  problems 
attacked. 

The  writer  feels  that  the  book  is  a  dis- 
tinct contribution  in  that  it  illustrates  in 
detail  the  statistical  technique  for  deter- 
mining the  reliability  of  a  test,  and  in  that 
much  needed  light  is  thrown  on  the  best 
technique  to  be  followed  in  the  construction 
of  objective  tests.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  validity  of  all  tests  is  assumed  even 
though,  as  the  authors  suggest,  the  makers 
of  the  essay-types  of  examinations  disregard 
the  validity  of  the  materials  selected.  Un- 
doubtedly validity  is  one  aspect  of  test 
construction  which  should  receive  atten- 
tion. However  this  book  will  be  of  interest 
to  all  who  are  concerned  with  the  con- 
struction of  objective  tests  and  to  those 
interested  in  the  general  field  of  measure- 
ments. 


132 


Book  Reviews 


PROCEDURES  IN  EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY 

By  Walter  Van  Dyke  Bingham  and  Max  Freyd.     Chicago: 
A.  W.  Shaw  Company,  1926.     Pp.  xi  +  269 

Reviewed  by  Donald  G.  Paterson 


In  the  reviewer's  opinion,  1926  will  stand 
out  in  the  years  to  come  as  a  historic  year 
in  the  development  of  employment  ps.ychol- 
ogy.  It  presents  us  with  two  outstand- 
ing contributions,  each  uniquely  important 
and,  fortunately,  each  admirably  supple- 
menting the  other.  Burtt's  book  on  Em- 
plo\-ment  Psychology  critically  assembles 
most  of  the  important  results  obtained  to 
date,  whereas  Bingham  and  Freyd  present  us 
with  an  equally  critical  outline  of  scientific 
procedures  invented  in  the  process  of  de- 
veloping the  field. 

Muensterberg  in  1913  boldly  outlined  the 
possibilities  in  his  epoch-making  Psychology 
and  Industrial  Efficiency.  The  books  of 
Burtt  and  of  Bingham  and  Freyd  strikingly 
testify  to  the  amazing  progress  that  has 
been  made  since  Muensterberg  startled  his 
cloistered  colleagues. 

Procedures  in  Employment  Psychology, 
as  the  sub-title  suggests,  is  essentially  a 
manual  for  research  workers  in  industry. 
However,  it  is  so  organized  as  to  be  an  illu- 
minating reference  for  executives  desirous 
of  learning  what  is  really  involved  in  a 
thorough-going  program  of  vocational  selec- 
tion. Also  it  will  prove  exceedinglj'  useful 
as  a  text-book  for  University  courses  in 
vocational  psychology. 

The  authors  bring  to  their  task  a  back- 
ground enriched  through  extensive  experi- 
ence in  workshop  and  classroom.  As  a 
result,  we  find  the  discussion  not  only 
logically  organized  and  clearly  presented, 
but  also  directed  toward  the  use  of  tech- 
niques in  typical  industrial  situations. 
For  this  reason,  the  reader,  if  he  would 
profit  most  from  the  presentation,  needs 
must  possess  some  knowledge  of  personnel 
administration,  psychology,  mental  test 
technique,  and  statistical  methods.  It 
goes  without  saying  that  the  get-rich-quick 
"character  analyst,"  the  "sure-fire"  em- 
plo>Tnent  consultant,  the  "hire-and-fire 
'em"  employment  manager,  or  any  other 


variety  of  tj-ro,  will  look  upon  this  book 
with  dismay  and  perhaps  regret.  This 
possibility,  in  itself,  is  a  consummation 
devoutly  to  be  desired. 

A  mere  outline  of  the  table  of  contents 
will  indicate  the  comprehensive  nature  of 
the  approach.  Following  the  introductory 
chapter,  which  sets  forth  the  problem  of 
selection  in  terms  of  specific  industrial  and 
educational  situations,  we  find  four  chap- 
ters devoted  to  methods  of  analyzing  jobs 
and  workers.  The  next  six  chapters  de- 
scribe various  objective  and  semi-objective 
devices  for  measuring  vocationally  signifi- 
cant traits.  These  include,  in  addition  to 
the  usual  run  of  psychological  tests,  such 
supplementary  devices  as  rating  scales, 
questionnaires,  personal  history  records  and 
interest  preference  blanks.  The  rest  of  the 
book  is  devoted  largely  to  scientific 
methodology  involved  in  validating  meas- 
uring instruments  and  in  predicting  voca- 
tional success. 

The  book  deserves  special  commendation 
for  its  penetrating  discussion  of  adequate 
criteria  of  vocational  success.  Thirteen 
possible  criteria  are  described  and  the 
emphasis  upon  the  necessity  of  determining 
the  reliability  of  criteria  is  timely  and  to 
the  point.  This  is  the  best  discussion  of 
vocational  criteria  in  print. 

At  least  one  other  outstanding  virtue 
may  be  singled  out  for  special  mention. 
Reference  is  made  to  the  happy  manner 
in  which  the  highly  technical,  statis- 
tical methods  of  validation  are  pre- 
sented. Fifty-five  statistical  formulae  are 
given,  many  of  them  being  illustrated 
and  discussed.  These  chapters  convey  in 
outline  all  of  the  important  tools  of  scien- 
tific analysis  required  in  vocational  and 
employment  psychology. 

Only  minor  criticisms  arise  in  appraising 
the  book.  Perhaps  some  indication  of 
possible  ways  of  using  job  analysis  data 
might  have  been  given  although  such  uses 


Book  Reviews 


133 


are  not  strictly  relevant  to  the  narrower 
phases  of  emplojTnent  psychology.  A 
minor  inconsistency  in  treating  rating  scale 
techniques  is  noted.  For  example,  on  page 
135  the  graphic  rating  scale  is  described  as 
convenient  and  reliable  whereas  on  page  142 
the  reliability  of  rating  scales  is  said  to  be 
low.  The  chapter  on  questionnaires  does 
not  come  up  to  the  standard  set  by  Poffen- 
berger  in  his  treatment  of  the  same  subject 
in  Psychology  in  Advertising,  although  it 
does  cover  more  aspects  applicable  to  em- 


ployment work.  All  in  all,  these  criticisms 
are  of  minor  importance  and  detract  only 
slightly  from  the  value  of  the  book  as  a 
whole. 

It  is  a  distinct  pleasure  to  commend  this 
book  because  one  may  do  so,  in  this  in- 
stance, without  the  usual  reservations.  We 
now  have  available  a  manual  epitomizing 
the  important  contributions  in  terms  of 
technique.  This  all  augurs  well  for  an  ac- 
celerated development  of  this  new  phase 
of  human  engineering. 


FIELDS  OF  WORK  FOR  WOMEN 

By   Miriam   S.    Leuck.     New    York:  D.    Appleton   and 
Company,  1926.     Pp.  349 

Reviewed  by  Grace  E.  Manson 


This  is  a  very  interesting  little  book 
written  in  a  popular  style  for  girls  and 
women  who  have  completed  at  least  a  year 
or  two  of  high  school  work,  and  who  are 
either  viewing  the  occupational  field  for  the 
first  time  or  contemplating  a  change  of 
work.  Miss  Leuck  writes  from  long  experi- 
ence in  guidance  problems,  with  the 
Y.  W.  C.  A.,  in  the  University  of  Chicago, 
as  a  social  worker,  and  as  a  Girl  Scout 
leader.  Her  attitude  is  that  of  the  adviser 
imparting  vocational  information  rather 
than  that  of  the  research  worker  collecting 
and  evaluating  information  for  use  by  the 
counsellor. 

The  first  five  chapters  are  given  over  to 
the  discussion  of  certain  general  problems. 
The  chapter  headings  ^\'ill  give  the  reader  an 
insight  into  the  author's  viewpoint  and 
style:  I — Your  Job;  II — Why  Women  Fail; 
III— That  Liberal  Education;  IV— College 
for  Every  One;  V — Health  and  the  Physical 
Handicap.  The  remaining  chapters  are 
devoted  to  the  analysis  of  various  occupa- 
tions which,  according  to  the  author,  have 
been  grouped  with  an  eye  to  the  alternatives 


open  to  the  possessor  of  certain  tastes  and 
abilities.  The  chapter  headings  in  this 
section  are: 

VI.  Office  Work 
VII.  Shop  and  Factory 
VIII.  A  Business  of  Your  Own 
IX.  The  Genteel  Professions 
X.  Working  bj^  Playing 
XI.  Living  by  the  Five  Arts 
XII.  I've  Always  Wanted  to  Write 

XIII.  Food,  Clothing  and  Shelter 

XIV.  The  Scientific  Viewpoint 
XV.  Service 

XVI.  The  Law  and  the  Public  Business 
XVII.  Back  to  the  Land 
XVIII.  If  you  Marry 
XIX.  In  Conclusion 

The  style  is  easy  and  the  author  gives 
much  wholesome  advice.  She  at  times  in- 
dulges in  wide  generalities  and  sweeping 
conclusions,  but  a  certain  amount  of  dog- 
matism is  justified  in  advising  the  young. 
An  excellent  bibliography  is  appended  for 
persons  desiring  to  do  more  extensive  read- 
ing in  any  of  the  fields  of  work  discussed. 


134 


Book  Reviews 


THE  ECONOMIC  BASIS  OF  FAIR  WAGES 

By  Jacob  D.   Cox,  Jr.     New   York:  The  Ronald  Press 
Company,  1926.     Pp.  139 

Reviewed  by  AIaey  B.  Gilson 


It  is  very  comforting  in  this  all  too  dy- 
namic world  to  find  some  things  static. 
In  the  static  class  belong  many  economic 
theories,  especially  wage  theories,  tracing 
their  ancestry  back  through  the  ages,  peace- 
fully undisturbed  by  the  devastating  on- 
slaught of  changing  conditions  and  the  still 
more  devastating  onslaught  of  doubt. 

Perhaps  the  most  persistent  of  wage 
theories  is  that  natural  laws  in  general  and 
the  law  of  supply  and  demand  in  particular 
must  be  allowed  to  govern  wages  without 
the  intervention  of  human  guidance  and 
control. 

The  first  six  chapters  of  "The  Economic 
Basis  of  Fair  Wages"  are,  in  the  author's 
own  words  devoted  to  proving 

"1.  That  no  permanent  gain  in  the  stand- 
ard of  living  of  wage  earners  can  result  from 
higher  general  wage  levels. 

"2.  That  wage  levels  are  themselves  the 
result  of  economic  forces  that  are  world 
wide  in  their  scope  and  cannot  be  success- 
fully controlled  or  manipulated  by  either 
employer  or  emploj-ee. 

"3.  That  business  profits  are  ordinarily 
kept  within  narrow  limits  by  competition, 
unusual  profits  are  earned  only  as  the  result 
of  super-efficiency,  and  normal  prices  are 
just  sufficient  to  allow  the  weakest  neces- 
sary producers  to  earn  a  minimum  living 
return. 

"4.  That  the  wage  earners  consequently 
receive  the  residual  share  of  production, 
and  the  purchasing  power  of  their  wages  is 
increased  by  everj-  advance  in  the  pro- 
ductive efficiency  of  industry;  that  the 
purchasing  power  of  wages,  and  the  stand- 
ard of  living  have  in  fact  risen  steadily  with 
the  rise  of  the  productive  power  of  industry 
throughout  the  last  century." 

After  establishing  to  his  own  satisfaction 
the  indisputability  of  these  dicta,  Mr.  Cox 
directs  our  attention  to  possible  waj's  and 
means  of  raising  the  standard  of  living,  such 
as  improved  labor-saving  machinery,  scien- 


tific management  and  large  scale  produc- 
tion. He  urges  as  one  of  these  means  "the 
education  of  the  public  to  better  methods 
of  living"  adding  in  somewhat  vague  verbi- 
age, "The  bath  tub  used  for  storing  coal  is 
a  notable  instance  of  the  possilnlities  of 
better  living  through  a  better  use  or  selec- 
tion of  the  things  that  we  already  have." 
The  desirability  of  securing  capital  more 
cheaply  is  urged  as  another  effective  means 
of  raising  the  standard  of  living  and  the 
incentive  of  private  property  is  to  be 
guarded  in  that  it  provides  the  "Will"  to 
improve  our  standards.  Mr.  Cox  urges 
workers  to  abandon  their  "widespread 
fallacy"  concerning  overproduction.  He 
concedes  the  possibility  of  temporary  dis- 
locations due  to  too  much  production  at  a 
given  place  and  a  given  time  but  does  not 
mention  the  almost  continuous  lack  of 
coordination  between  production  and  con- 
sumption of  such  a  product  as  coal. 

Natural  laws  are  paid  due  homage,  after 
the  fashion  of  the  classical  economists.  It 
does  not  seem  to  occur  to  Mr.  Cox  that  the 
law  of  gravity  is  interfered  with  when  a 
hand  reaches  out  and  stops  a  falling  object. 
He  claims  that  all  temporary  interference 
with  economic  or  "natural"  laws  is  futile 
as  the}'  eventually  must  assert  themselves. 
The  concession  is  made  that  "unjust  con- 
ditions may  for  a  time  result"  under  certain 
abnormal  conditions  as,  for  example,  "when 
a  whole  town  depends  for  its  livelihood  on 
one  industry,"  or  in  the  "sweated  clothing 
industries,"  but  his  qualifying  clause  "for 
a  time"  implies  that  the  god  who  operates 
these  immutable  economic  laws  is  only 
temporarily  asleep  at  the  switch. 

We  can  scarcely  accept  the  author's 
theorem  that  "wages  are  governed  by 
natural  economic  laws  ....  inevitable 
in  their  action"  in  the  face  of  the  many 
instances  where  wages  have  been  the  result 
of  a  conflict  over  distril)ution.  When  out- 
put is  increased  by  more  efficient  labor,  or 


Book  Reviews 


135 


more  efficient  management,  or  by  any  other 
means,  the  resulting  benefit  of  this  in- 
creased output  may  be  added  to  profits  or 
to  wages  or  it  may  go  to  the  consumer  in  the 
form  of  lower  prices,  or  in  varying  propor- 
tions to  all  three.  The  division  is  not 
accomplished  by  the  automaticity  of 
"natural  laws"  but  rather  as  a  result  of 
competition  and  bargaining  power.  Mr, 
Cox  apparently  does  not  give  weight  to  the 
complexity  of  factors  influencing  wide 
variations  in  the  distribution  of  the 
products  of  industry,  but  we  think  he  would 
find  it  difficult  to  maintain  his  thesis  that 
these  mysterious  natural  laws  are  not 
subject  to  human  guidance  after  an  analysis 
of  the  fluctuations  shown  in  the  relative 
shares  of  labor  and  capital  from  1909  to 
1918. 

The  theory  is  upheld  that  the  normal 
wage  level  of  each  countrj'  depends  on  and 
roughly  corresponds  to,  that  country's 
average  productivity  of  labor.  In  answer 
to  this  we  can  do  no  better  than  quote 
Walton  Hamilton,  "While  productivity 
determines  what  the  laborer  will,  in  the 
long  run  secure,  it  is  far  from  true  that  the 
laborer  is  always  able  to  secure  his  whole 
product.  The  laborer  may  be  able  to  sell 
his  labor  to  only  one  employer,  who  there- 
fore can  fix  his  own  price.  Onlj-  if  com- 
petition among  employers  were  active  of  if 
capital  and  labor  could  meet  on  equal  terms 
would  the  laborer  be  sure  to  get  exactly 
what  he  produces.  A  trade  union  by  pre- 
venting an  employer  from  taking  advantage 
of  the  weakness  of  the  individual  workman 
may  raise  the  rate  of  wages  to  the  level  of 
productivity."  In  contrast  to  Mr.  Cox's 
broad  statement  that,  "all  employers  are 
continually  striving  to  make  production 
cheaper  and  more  efficient",  Mr.  Hamilton 
says,  "by  putting  pressure  on  the  employer 
to  increase  efficiency  a  union  has  power  to 
raise  wages." 

But  Mr.  Cox  has  no  use  for  any  form  of 
collective  dealing.  He  says,  "Employers 
have  no  real  objection  to  high  wages  which 
come  as  the  natural  result  of  the  workings 
of  economic  law"  but  he  waxes  eloquent 
against  any  interference  with  this  economic 
law  by  groups  of  workers.  He  is  ardently 
in  favor   of   the  coordination   of   business 


enterprise  and  lists  the  advantages  of  large 
scale  production,  even  going  so  far  as  to 
enumerate  among  these  advantages  "the 
assurance  of  equitable  dealing  in  the  labor 
market."  But  only  evil  can  result  from  a 
joining  together  of  workers  in  large  scale 
enterprise  in  the  form  of  national  wage 
agreements.  He  sounds  an  ominous  note  of 
rebellion  on  the  part  of  the  long  suffering 
public  saj-ing,  "It  seems  certain  that  if  the 
public  concludes  to  put  an  end  to  such  wide- 
spread collective  agreements  there  is  ample 
power  in  our  legislators  to  do  so  under  the 
conspiracy  laws."  The  difficulty  could  be 
solved  if  "both  parties  accept  such  fair  and 
just  wage  scales  as  ordinarily  arise  under 
normal  conditions  of  individual  freedom 
and  the  free  action  of  economic  laws." 
Since  these  laws  are  so  inevitable  and  im- 
mutable we  find  it  difficult  to  sympathize 
with  Mr.  Cox's  perturbation  at  attempts  to 
interfere  with  them. 

One  suspects  that  if  an  ardent  trades 
unionist  instead  of  an  American  Plan  en- 
thusiast had  been  quoting  all  the  evidences 
of  the  improved  condition  of  the  wage 
earner  of  today  he  might  attribute  at  least 
some  part  of  this  improvement  to  the 
influence  of  organized  labor.  It  all  depends 
on  what  your  point  of  departure  is  when  you 
embark  on  the  adventure  of  writing  a  book 
about  wages. 

The  book  we  are  considering  contains 
many  important,  if  obvious,  truths,  such 
as  the  need  of  better  trained  executives,  the 
wisdom  of  providing  opportunities  for 
promotion,  the  value  of  stock  ownership 
and  profit  sharing,  the  evils  of  unemploy- 
ment and  other  things  which  should  chal- 
lenge the  attention  of  industrial  executives. 
Mr.  Cox,  as  president  of  the  Cleveland 
Twist  Drill  Company,  has  no  doubt  had 
many  opportunities  to  consider  all  of  these 
matters  from  a  practical  as  well  as  a  theo- 
retical viewpoint.  Apart  from  these  pal- 
pable truths  the  book,  we  fear,  has  little  to 
contribute  toward  the  stimulation  of 
thought  on  the  increasingly  complicated 
subject  of  wages.  It  will  be  another  com- 
fortable and  reassuring  shock  absorber  for 
the  kind  of  tired  business  man  who  does 
not  have  time  to  question  the  tenets  of  the 
classical  economists  and  who  finds  it  more 


136 


Book  Reviews 


comfortable  not  to  question  ancient  doc- 
trines even  when  he  has  time.  We  doubt 
whether  those  employers  who  enjoy  explor- 


ing expeditions  into  the  Field  of  Doubt 
will  find  much  to  repay  them  in  reviewing 
old  creeds. 


EMPLOYEE  STOCK  OWNERSHIP  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

By  Robert  F.  Foerster  and  Else  H.  Dietel.     Princeton. 
Princeton  University  Press,  1926.     Pp.  17 i 

Reviewed  by  John  P.   Mitchell,  Jr. 


"The  present  study,"  say  the  authors  in 
the  Preface,  "is  neither  a  history  nor  a 
handliook.  It  is  an  inquiry  into  the  specific 
nature  of  the  plans  under  which  employees 
acquire  stock  and  a  discussion  of  general 
questions  raised  l)y  the  provisions  of  such 
plans." 

The  book  consists  of  three  chapters. 
The  first  chapter  is  very  brief  and  introduc- 
tory. It  seeks  to  indicate  the  extent  of  the 
movement  and  its  relationship  to  other 
tendencies,  such  as  the  general  movement 
for  popular  ownership  of  securities  in  the 
United  States;  the  increasing  volume  of 
accumulation  from  wages  which  is  evi- 
denced bj'  statistics  of  savings  accounts, 
insurance  policies,  and  instalment  pur- 
chases; and  the  improving  investment 
status  of  corporate  securities. 

Chapter  II,  by  far  the  longest  chapter, 
is  an  objective  analysis  of  actual  plans  and 
their  results.  The  major  heads  of  this 
chapter  will  serve  to  indicate  the  ground 
covered.  These  heads  are:  '!)  Introduc- 
tion and  Presentation  of  the  Plan;  2) 
Eligibility  Requirements;  (3)  Description 
of  the  Securities  Offered;  (4)  the  Conditions 
of  Subscription;  (5)  Financial  Details  of 
the  Transaction;  (6)  Adjustments  in  Special 
Circumstances;  i7)  Limitations  of  the 
Employee's  Risk;  (8)  General  Results. 
Under  each  of  these  heads  and  their  various 
sub-heads  the  general  procedure  is  first  to 
give,  as  far  as  possible,  a  generalized  and 
summary  description  of  practice;  and 
secondly,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  great  varia- 


tion to  be  found  in  the  practices  of  different 
companies,  illustrating  significant  methods 
of  dealing  with  the  point  bj'  concrete  illus- 
trations. 

In  Chapter  III  the  authors  discuss,  from 
a  broader  viewpoint  and  necessarily  in  a 
less  objective  manner,  the  questions  of 
individual  and  general  policy  involved  in 
the  sale  of  securities  to  employees.  This 
chapter  is  the  most  interesting  part  of  the 
book  to  the  general  reader.  It  treats  of 
such  topics  as  the  Worker's  Investment 
Problem,  Safeguarding  the  Worker,  Com- 
pany Gains,  Some  Problems  and  Dangers. 

There  are  two  appendices,  the  first  of 
whirh  is  a  list  of  the  companies,  classified 
under  appropriate  heads,  which  have  intro- 
duced employee  stock  ownership  plans. 
Appendix  B  summarizes  briefly  the  details 
of  many  actual  plans. 

The  authors  nowhere  describe  an  ideal 
plan.  They  do  not  overemphasize  the 
importance  of  the  movement,  nor  do  they 
minimize  its  difficulties  and  dangers.  The 
subject  does  not  lend  itself  to,  or  at  least  the 
time  is  not  ripe  for,  a  final  evaluation.  Yet 
this  study  should  be  not  only  interesting 
but  valuable  to  students  of  industrial 
relations  seeking  to  understand  the  broader 
significance  and  social  consequences  of  the 
movement  toward  employee  stock  owner- 
ship, and  to  personnel  managers  and  general 
executives  who  wish  to  understand  the 
subject  from  the  point  of  view  of  practical 
business  policy  for  the  individual  con- 
cern. 


Book  Reviews 


137 


THE  GOVERXMEXT  AXD  LABOR 

By  Albert  R.  Ellingwood  and  Whitriey  Combes.     Chicago: 
A.  W.  Shaiv  Company,  1926.     Pp.  639 

Reviewed  by  E.  S.  Wolaver 


Professor  Commons  says  teachers  and 
students  will  welcome  this  book.  This  is 
true,  especially  of  the  teacher,  for  there  is 
a  great  dearth  of  material  in  this  field. 
The  material  on  labor  problems  is  scattered; 
it  lies  in  legislative  acts,  judicial  opinions 
and  decisions,  administrative  orders,  and 
government  reports.  Much  of  this  is  of 
little  value,  certainly  of  no  value  to  a  begin- 
ner. To  introduce  properly  a  subject  of 
this  sort,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  prune  it 
of  its  irrelevant  material;  secondly,  to  con- 
dense the  remaining  material  to  the  needs 
of  students;  and  thirdly,  to  leave  the 
finished  product  not  so  refined  and  concise 
that  the  student  will  regard  the  book  as  a 
final  and  authoritative  examination  of  the 
subject.  This  book  does  not  offer  itself 
as  a  final  solution  of  the  problem  so  much 
as  a  convenient  aid  to  understanding  the 
fundamental  nature  of  the  subject. 

The  mechanical  construction  of  the  book 
is  worth  consideration.  On  the  whole,  it  is 
a  text  book  with  illustrative  statutes  and 
cases,  giving  a  very  broad  and  general 
statement  of  the  basis  of  governmental 
regulation  of  labor  problems.  The  authors 
di\'ide  the  subject  up  as  follows: 

Nature  of  Contracts  of  Employment 

Protection  of  Labor 

The  Labor  L'nion 

The  Labor  Conflict 

The  Police 

Hours  of  Labor 

Wages 

Unemployment 

Workman's  Compensation 

Social  Insurance 

In  order  to  call  attention  to  the  method 
of  presentation,  the  reviewer  has  selected 
the  chapter  on  contract  of  emplo^Tuent. 
Serval  labor  is  first  treated,  and  then  the 
evolutionary    stages    of    labor    up    to    the 


modern  ideas  of  master  and  servant,  em- 
plo}-er  and  employee.  This  is  achieved  in 
two  pages.  The  matter  of  historical  de- 
velopment can  hardly  be  set  forth  in  so 
small  a  space.  The  labor  contract  and 
the  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Federal 
Constitution  is  put  forward  with  the  aid 
of  a  solitary  case,  Bailey  vs.  Alabama, 
page  219,  U.  S.  219.  On  pages  36  and  37  are 
fourteen  searching  questions.  If  these 
were  intended  to  be  worked  out,  thej'  would 
require  a  great  deal  more  knowledge  than 
is  set  out  in  the  single  case.  It  strikes  the 
reviewer  that  these  questions  are  quite  a 
presumption  on  the  knowledge  and  skill  of 
an  undergraduate.  It  is  possible  to  offer 
a  similar  criticism  of  all  of  the  chapters  with 
the  probable  exception  of  one,  The  Labor 
Conflict.  The  material  is  apt  to  be  too 
scant.  But  if  the  book  is  used  in  connec- 
tion with  a  book  on  principle  and  theory  the 
difficulty  may  be  cared  for,  and  it  seems  the 
writers  have  this  in  mind. 

In  their  chapter  on  the  labor  conflict,  the 
authors  have  attempted  to  set  out  the  whole 
problem  in  a  thorough  and  judicial  manner, 
haiing  due  regard  for  the  claims  of  labor 
and  the  rights  of  the  capitalist.  This  is  the 
very  best  chapter  in  the  book,  and  is  really 
the  most  important  subject  in  the  whole 
field.  The  labor  conflict  is  not  so  much  a 
matter  of  solving  specific  problems  and 
deciding  definite  cases,  as  it  is  a  matter  of 
■nase  understanding  of  the  problems  and 
the  nature  of  the  conflict.  The  history  of 
legal  decision  is  usually  the  history  of  the 
growth  of  an  idea.  It  is  a  gradual  growth 
from  a  small  beginning.  There  is  first  some 
need  of  change  which  is  introduced  by  the 
question,  What  is  the  right  and  the  justice 
of  the  situation?  Then  comes  the  strict 
legalistic  inquiry.  What  is  the  general  rule 
now  in  e.xistence,  and  how  far  short  of  the 
right  and  just  solution  is  this  rule?  Then 
follows  a  slow  breaking  down  of  technical 


138 


Book  Reviews 


rules  of  law,  and  the  gradual  substitution  of 
newer  ones  to  the  end  that  the  proljlem  is 
slowly  solved. 

A  praiseworthy  feature  of  the  book  is  the 
fact  that  the  authors  conceal  any  personal 
sympath}'  or  feeling  and  make  a  splendid 
effort  to  set  out  the  facts  and  the  current 


principles  that  control  labor  situations. 
The  book  is  painstakingly  done,  and  in  its 
some  six  hundred  pages  there  is  nothing 
that  is  irrelevant.  It  seems  to  be  a  very 
teachable  book.  It  is  certain  to  find  a 
welcome  place  in  the  literature  on  laljor 
problems. 


FACTORS  OF  HUMAN  PSYCHOLOGY 

By  Lawrence  W.  Cole.     Boulder,  Colo.:  University  Ex- 
tension Division,  University  of  Colorado,  1926. 
Pp.  362 


"Factors  of  Human  Psychology"  is  an 
elementary  text  book  in  the  traditional 
manner.  The  chapters  on  "Intelligence" 
and  "Psychic  Traits  of  the  Sexes"  cannot 
be    recommended    to    the    personnel    man 


because  limits  of  space  have  forced  the 
author  to  confine  himself  to  the  barest 
essentials.  The  chapter  on  "Reasoning  or 
Scientific  Method"  is  brief  but  excellently 
planned  for  an  elementary  text  book. 


ADVISING  THE  TUBERCULOUS  ABOUT  EMPLOYMENT 

By    W.    I.    Hamilton   and    T.    B.    Kidner.     Baltimore: 
The  Williams   &    Wilkins   Company,    1926. 
Pp.  ix  +  171 


This  book  is  described  as  being  written 
for  the  doctor,  the  nurse,  the  public  health 
officer,  and  the  patient.  It  is  also  an 
excellent  series  of  readable  chapters  for  the 
general  reader,  the  employment  manager, 
and  the  personnel  officer.  The  authors 
have  collected  the  outstanding  facts  con- 


cerning employment  of  tuberculous  persons 
and  presented  them  in  a  clear  and  nontech- 
nical manner.  Special  chapters  discuss 
selecting  an  occupation,  danger  signals  and 
standards,  special  workshops,  and  other 
specifically  important  topics  related  to 
these . 


ECONOMIC  PROBLEMS  OF  MODERN  LIFE 


By  S.  Howard  Patterson  and  Karl  W.  H.  Scholz. 
York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  1927. 
Pp.  613 


New 


This  is  a  very  readable  and  up-to-date 
textbook  on  economics.  Emphasis  is 
placed  on  the  outstanding  problems  of  our 
economic  life,  and  economic  principles  are 
introduced  only  incidentally.  One-fourth 
of  the  book  is  devoted  to  problems  of  labor 
and  industrial  unrest;  the  chapter  head- 
ings are  Economic  Inequality  and  Pov- 
erty, Economic  Insecurity  and  Social   In- 


surance, Human  Conservation  and  Labor 
Legislation,  Collective  Bargaining  and 
Labor  Organizations,  Industrial  Conflict 
and  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Peace, 
Socialism  and  Economic  Radicalism. 
These  chapters  are  clear,  informative, 
and  impartial,  and  are  strongly  recom- 
mended to  the  attention  of  every  personnel 
man. 


Book  Reviews 


139 


ARTIFEX,  OR  THE  FUTURE  OF  CRAFTSMANSHIP 

By  John  Gloag.    New  York:  E.  P.  Button  and  Company, 
1927.     Pp.  lit 


This  little  book  is  one  of  a  series,  each 
containing  an  essay  on  the  outlook  for  a 
certain  phase  of  human  activity.  After 
tracing  the  history  of  craftsmanship  in  a 
single  country,  taking  Great  Britain  as  an 
example,  the  author  makes  his  thesis  that 
the  future  of  craftsmanship  does  not  lie  in 
a  return  to  medieval  conditions,  but,  frankly 
recognizing  that  this  is  a  mechanical  age. 


in  synthesizing  craftsmanship  with  machine 
production.  The  time  of  skilled  men 
should  not  be  wasted  on  purely  mechanical 
tasks;  cheap  imitations  of  craftsmanship 
should  not  be  made  entirely  by  machinery; 
the  craftsman,  bringing  machinery  to  his 
aid  to  the  greatest  possible  extent,  should 
supply  the  skilled  finishing  touch  him- 
self. 


New  Books 


Alexander,  Magnus  W.  The  Changing 
Environment  of  American  Industry  and  the 
National  Industrial  Conference  Board. 
New  York:  National  Industrial  Confer- 
ence Board,  1927.     56  p. 

Are  You  Intelligent?  New  York:  Harper 
and  Bros.,  1927.    $1.25. 

Ayres,  Clarence  E.  Science;  the  False 
Messiah.  Indianapolis:  Bobbs  Merrill 
Co.,  1927.    295  p.    $3.00. 

Berman,  Louis,  M.D.  The  Religion  Called 
Behaviorism.  New  York:  Boni  and 
Liveright,  1927.     153  p.    $1.75. 

Bernays,  Edward  L.,  Editor.  An  Outline 
of  Careers.  New  York:  Greorge  H.  Doran 
Co.,  1927.    442  p.    $5.00. 

Best,  Ethel  L,  Lost  Time  and  Labor 
Turnover  in  Cotton  Mills.  Women's 
Bureau  Bulletin  No.  52.  Washington: 
Government  Printing  Office,  1926.  213  p. 
$0.35. 

Bogart,  Ernest  L.,  and  Landon,  Charles 
E.  Modern  Industry.  New  York:  Long- 
mans, Green  and  Co.,  1927.  603  p. 
$3.75. 

BoLLiNG,  C.  L.  Sales  Management;  A 
Complete  Guide  to  Modern  Methods  of 
Marketing,  Advertising,  Selling  and  Dis- 
tribution. New  York:  Isaac  Pitman  and 
Sons,  1927.    319  p.    $3.00. 

BousFiELD,  Edward  G.  P.,  and  Bousfield, 
W.  R.  The  Mind  and  Its  Mechanism. 
New  York:  E.  P.  Button  and  Co.,  1927. 
231  p.    $4.00. 


Brace,  David  K.  Measuring  Motor 
Ability;  a  Scale  of  Motor  Ability  Tests. 
New  York:  A.  S.  Barnes  and  Co.,  1927. 
154  p.    $2.00. 

Bragg,  Sir  William  H.  Creative  Knowl- 
edge. New  York:  Harper  and  Bros., 
1927.    $3.50. 

Brown,  M.  R.  Legal  Psychology;  Psychol- 
ogy Applied  to  the  Trial  of  Cases,  to  Crime 
and  Its  Treatment,  and  to  Mental  States 
and  Processes.  Indianapolis:  Bobba 
Merrill  Co.,  1926.    356  p.    $5.00. 

Brown,  William.  Mind  and  Personality. 
New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1927. 
366  p.    $2.50. 

Bryn  Mawr  College,  Summer  School  for 
Women  Workers  in  Industry.  Changing 
Jobs.  Women's  Bureau  Bulletin  No. 
54.  Washington:  Government  Printing 
Office,  1926.     17  p.    $0.05. 

BuKHARix,  Nikolai.  The  Economic  Theory 
of  the  Leisure  Class.  New  York:  Inter- 
national Publishers,  1927.    220  p.    $2.50. 

Cabot,  Richard  C,  Editor.  The  Goal  of 
Social  Work.  Boston:  Houghton  Mifflin 
Co.,  1927.    244  p.    $2.50. 

Carroll,  Robert  P.  A  Drill  Book  in 
Methods  of  Computation  in  Educational 
Measurements.  Syracuse:  University 
Book  Store,  1926.     143  p.    $1.80. 

Charters,  W.  W.,  .\nd  Others.  Basic 
Material  for  a  Pharmaceutical  Curricidum. 
New  York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Co.,  1927. 
365  p.    $4.00. 


140 


Book  Reviews 


Clapham,  J.  H.  An  Economic  History  oj 
Modern  Britain;  the  Early  Railway  Age. 
New  York:  Macraillan  Co.,  1927.  641  p. 
SS.oO. 

Cole,  Lawrenxe  W.  Factors  of  Human 
Psychology.  Boulder:  University  of  Col- 
orado Extension  Division,  1926.  362  p. 
S2.40. 

COLEMAX,    LOYD    R.,    AND    COMMIXS,    SaXE. 

Psychology,  a  Simplification.  New  York: 
Boni  and  Liveright,  1927.     320  p.    33.00. 

Cook,  Huldah  I'.,  axd  Walker,  Edith  M. 
Adult  Elementary  Education.  New  York: 
Chas.  Scribners  Sons,  1927.  415  p. 
SI  .80. 

ConxELL,  Ethel  L.  Mental  Hygiene;  Its 
Place  in  the  Classroom.  Albany':  Univer- 
sity of  State  of  New  York,  1927.  19  p. 
S0.05. 

CoRSCADEx,  James  A.  History  Taking  and 
Recording.  New  York:  P.  B.  Hoeber, 
1926.     86  p.     81.50. 

Curriculum  for  Schools  of  A^ursing.  6th 
Edition.  New  York:  National  League 
of  Nursing  Education,  1927.  227  p. 
S2.50. 

DiEMER,  Hugo.  Foremanship  Training. 
New  York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Co.,  1927. 
230  p.    S2.50. 

Doxxelly,  Thomas  J.  Workmen's  Com- 
pensation; a  Primer  for  Trade  Unions  and 
and  Stiidy  Classes.  New  York:  Workers' 
Education  Bureau,   1926.     18  p. 

Dorsey,  George  A.  The  Nature  of  Man. 
New  York :  Harper  and  Bros.,  1927.  90  p. 
SI. 00. 

DuRYEA,  John  B.  When  to  Stop  Talking, 
and  Other  Essays  on  Life  Insurance  Sales- 
manship. Indianapolis:  Rough  Notes 
Co.,  1926.    212  p.    S2.00. 

EsTEY,  Helen  G.  A  Bibliography  on  Psy- 
chology. Gardner,  Mass:  Author,  224 
Chestnut  Street,  1926.     69  p.     Si. 00. 

Fisher,  Vivian  E.  An  Experimental  Study 
of  the  Effects  of  Tobacco  Smoking  on 
Certain  Psycho-physical  Functions. 
Comparative  Psj'chology  Monographs, 
Vol.  4,  Serial  No.  19.  Baltimore:  The 
Williams  &  Wilkins  Co.,    1927.     50  p. 

Fuller,  Raymond  G.  Fourteen  is  Too 
Early;  Some  Psychological  Aspects  of 
School-Leaving  and  Child  Labor.  New 
York :  National  Child  Labor  Committee, 
1927.     40  p. 


GiLBRETH,  Lillian  E.  M.  The  Home 
Maker  and  Her  Job.  New  York:  D. 
Appleton  and  Co.,   1927.     161   p.     SI .75. 

Gloag,  Johx  E.  Artifex,  or  The  Future  of 
Craftsmanship.  New  York:  E.  P.  But- 
ton and  Co.,  1927.     Ill  p.    Sl.OO. 

Goddard,  Hexry  H.  Two  Souls  in  One 
Body?  New  York:  Dodd,  Mead  and  Co., 
1927.    255  p.    S2.50. 

Hatcher,  O.  L.,  Editor.  Occupations  for 
Women.  Richmond,  Va:  Southern 
Women's  Educational  Alliance,  1927.  565 
p.    S3.50. 

Housman,  Ida  E.  A  Digest  and  an  Ex- 
planation of  the  New  Jersey  Teachers' 
Pension  and  Annuity  Fund  Law.  Hobo- 
ken,  N.  J.:  Author,  519  Garden  Street, 
1927.     160  p.     Sl.OO. 

Jerome,  Harry'.  Migration  and  Business 
Cycles.  New  York:  National  Bureau  of 
Economic  Research,  1926.    256  p.     S3. 50. 

KiTsox,  Harry  D.  How  to  Use  Your  Mind; 
a  Psychology  of  Study.  3rd  Edition. 
Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1926. 
224  p.    S1.75. 

Kxights,  Charles  C.  An  Outline  of  Sales 
Management.  New  York:  Isaac  Pitman 
and  Sons,  1926.     195  p.     $1.50. 

Knights,  Charles  C.  The  Technique  of 
Salesmanship;  a  Textbook  of  Commercial 
Travelling  and  Specialty  Selling.  New 
York:  Isaac  Pitman  and  Sons,  1927.  258 
p.     $1.50. 

La  Dame,  Mary.  Securing  Employment 
for  the  Handicapped;  A  Study  of  Place- 
ment Agencies  for  This  Group  in  New 
York  City.  New  York :  Welfare  Council 
of  New  York  City,  1927.     133  p.    $0.50. 

Laidler,  Harry  W.  A  History  of  Socialist 
Thought.  New  York:  Thomas  Y.  Cro- 
well  Co.,  1927.     735  p.     S3.50. 

Laird,  Donald  A.  Psychology  of  Selecting 
Men.  Second  Edition.  New  York:  Mc- 
Graw-Hill Book  Co.,  1927.     345  p.     $4.00. 

Lindemax,  Eduard  C.  Workers'  Educa- 
tion and  the  Public  Libraries.  New  York: 
Workers'  Education  Bureau,  1926.     19  p. 

Lloyd,  W.  F.,  axd  Austix,  B.  H.  Capital 
for  Labor.  New  York:  Dodd,  Mead  and 
Co.,  1927.     142  p.     $1.25. 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver  J.  Science  of  Today. 
New  York:  Harper  and  Bros.,  1927.  79 
p.     Sl.OO. 

Lucas,   Arthur   F.     The  Legal   Minimum 


Book  Reviews 


141 


Wage  in  Massachusetts.  Philadelphia: 
Annals  of  American  Academy  of  Political 
and  Social  Science,  1927.    88  p. 

LUXDCTJIST,      GUSTAV      A.,      AND      CaRVER, 

Thomas  N.     Principles    of   Rural    Soci- 
ology.   Boston:  Ginn  and  Co.,  1927.     491 
p.    S2.84. 
Ltox,       Charles      E.     British       Wages. 
Washington:  Government  Printing  Office, 

1926.  76  p.    S0.15. 

Martin,  Lilliex  J.,  and  Grucht,  Clare 
DE.  Group  Tests  Made  to  Yield  Individual 
Diagnosis.  San  Francisco:  Harr  Wagner 
Publishing  Co.,  1927.    31  p. 

McMahon,  Thomas  F.  United  Textile 
Workers  of  America.  New  York:  Work- 
ers' Education  Bureau,  1926.     42  p. 

Meredith,  Flore xce  L.  Hygiene;  a  Text- 
book for  College  Students.  Philadelphia: 
P.  Blakiston  Sons  and  Co.,  1926.  832  p. 
S3.o0. 

Meyer,  Max  F.  Abnormal  Psychology. 
Columbia,  Mo.:  Lucas  Bros.,  1927.  286 
p.    S2.o0. 

Miller,  E.  Types  of  Mind  and  Body. 
New  York:  W.  W.  Norton,  1927.  94  p. 
Sl.OO. 

Mills,  Ch.\rles  M.  Vacations  for  Indus- 
trial Workers.     New  York:  Ronald  Press, 

1927.  336  p.    85.00. 

National  Industrial  Conference  Board. 
Clerical    Salaries    in   the    United   States, 

1926.  New     York:  National     Industrial 
Conference  Board,  1927.     68  p.     81  ..50. 

National  Industrial  Conference  Board.  The 
Cost  of  Living  in  New  York  City,  1926. 
New  York:  National  Industrial  Confer- 
ence Board,  1926.     142  p.    -52.00. 

Odtjm,  Howard  W.,  and  Others.  Ameri- 
can Masters  of  Social  Science;  an  Ap- 
proach to  the  Study  of  the  Social  Sciences 
Through  a  Neglected  Field  of  Biography. 
New  York:  Henry  Holt  and  Co.,  1927. 
418  p.    S4..50. 

PiEROX,  Henri.  Thought  and  the  Brain. 
New    York:  Harcourt,    Brace    and    Co., 

1927.  276  p.     84.00. 

PiGOU,  Arthur  C.    Industrial  Fluctuations. 

New  York:  Macmillan  Co.,  1927.     419  p. 

88..50. 
PoFFEXBERGER,  A.  T.     Applied  Psychology; 

Its  Principles  and  Methods.     New  York: 

D.     Appleton    and    Co.,    1927.    606    p. 

$4.00. 


Recent  Developments  in  the  Social  Scienceii 
Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1927. 
434  p.    S3.50. 

Rocco,  Alfredo.  The  Political  Doctrine  of 
fascism.  New  York:  Carnegie  Endow- 
ment for  International  Peace,  1926.  61  p. 
80.05. 

Rogers,  James  F.  The  Health  of  the 
Teacher.  Washington:  Government 
Printing  Office,  1926.     68  p.     SO.IO. 

Root,  William  T.,  Jr.  A  Psychological 
and  Educational  Survey  of  1916  Prisoners 
in  the  Western  Penitentiary  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Giardini,  G.  A  Report  on  the 
Italian  Convict.  Published  bj'  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Western  Penitentiery. 
246  p. 

RucH,  Giles  M.,  and  Stoddard,  George 
D.  Tests  and  Measurements  in  High 
School  Instruction.  Yonkers:  World 
Book  Co.,  1927.    400  p.    -82.20. 

Sartox,  Geo.  An  Introduction  to  the 
History  of  Science.  Baltimore:  The  Wil- 
liams &  Wilkins  Co..  1927.    839  p.    810.00. 

ScHELL,  Erwix  H.,  axd  Thurlby,  Harold 
H.  Problems  in  Industrial  Management. 
Chicago:  A.  W.  Shaw  Co.,  1927.  5.57  p. 
85.00. 

Schmalhausex',  Samuel  D.  Humanizing 
Education.  New  York:  New  Education 
Publishing  Co.,  1926.    343  p.     82.50. 

Smith,  Homer  J.  Industrial  Education; 
Administration  and  Supervision.  New 
York:  Century  Co.,  1927.     354  p.     S2..50. 

Sneddex,  David  S.  What's  Wrong  with 
American  Education?  Philadelphia:  J. 
B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1927.    388  p.    82.00. 

Snyder,  Carl.  Business  Cycles  and  Busi- 
ness Measurements;  Studies  in  Quantitative 
Economics.  New  York:  Macmillan  Co., 
1927.    340  p.    86.00. 

Spearman,  Ch.arles  E.  The  Abilities  of 
Man;  Their  Nature  and  Measurement. 
New  York:  Macmillan  Co.,  1927.  454  p. 
S4..50. 

Sprowls,  Jesse  W.  Social  Psychology  In- 
terpreted. Baltimore:  The  Williams  & 
Wilkins  Co.,  1927.    216  p.     84.00. 

SiTMXER,  WiLLI.AM  G.,  -AXD  KeLLER,  AlBERT 

G.     The  Science  of  Society.     Vol.2.     New 
Haven:  Yale     University     Press,     1927. 
S4.00. 
Swift,   Edg.ar  J.     How  to  Influence  Men; 
the  Use  of  Psychology  in  Business.     New 


142 


Book  Reviews 


York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1927.  419 
p.    $3.00. 

Thompson,  Laura.  Labor  Banks  in  the 
United  States;  a  List  of  References.  Wash- 
ington: Government  Printing  Office, 
1926. 

Thomson,  Mehran  K.  The  Springs  of 
Human  Action.  New  York:  D.  Appleton 
and  Co.,  1927.    517  p.    S3.00. 

Tracy,  Henry  C.  Towards  the  Open;  a 
Preface  to  Scientific  Humanism.  New 
York:  E.  P.  Button  and  Co.,  1927. 
277  p.    S3.50. 

United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics. 
Handbook  of  American  Trade  Unions. 
Washington :  Government  Printing  Office, 

1926.  209  p.    S0.20. 

United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics. 
Proceedings  of  the  Thirteenth  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  International  Association 
of  Industrial  Accident  Boards  and  Com- 
missions. Washington:  Government 
Printing  Office,  1927.    243  p. 

United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics. 
Union  Scale  of  Wages  and  Hours  of  Labor, 
May  15,  1926.  Washington :  Government 
Printing  Office,  1927.    212  p.    $0.30. 

United  States  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education.  Bibliography  on  Vocational 
Guidance.  Washington:  Government 
Printing  Office,  1927.     94  p. 

Updegraff,  Robert  R.  Captains  in  Con- 
flict; the  Story  of  the  Struggle  of  a  Business 
Generation.    Chicago:  A.   W.  Shaw  Co., 

1927.  284  p.    S2.00. 


Wallis,  Wilson  D.  An  Introduction  to 
Anthropology.  New  York:  Harper  and 
Bros.,  1926.    536  p.    S3.75. 

Ward,  James.  Psychology  Applied  to  Edu- 
cation. New  York:  Macmillan  Co.,  1926. 
201  p.     $4.50. 

Webb,  Sidney,  and  Webb,  Beatrice  P. 
English  Local  Government;  English  Poor 
Law  History;  Part  1.  The  Old  Poor  Law. 
New  York:  Longmans,  Green  and  Co., 
1927.     4.57  p.     $8..50. 

Weidemann,  Charles  C.  How  to  Construct 
the  True-False  Examination.  New  York: 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 

1926.  127  p.    $1.50. 

Wells,  F.  L.  Mental  Tests  in  Clinical 
Practice.     Yonkers:     World     Book     Co., 

1927.  325  p.    $2.16. 

Weseen,  Maurice  H.  How  to  Apply  for  a 
Position,  by  Letter  and  Intervieiv.  Lincoln 
Neb.:  College   Book  Store,    1927.    73    p. 

Wesley,  Charles  H.  Negro  Labor  in  the 
United  States,  1850-1925.  New  York: 
Vanguard   Press,    1927.     356  p.     $0.50. 

Wesberg,  Erwin.  Yo^ir  Nervous  Child. 
New  York:  Boni  and  Liveright,  1927. 
192  p.     $1.75. 

WoLFSON,  Theresa.  The  Women^s  Auxil- 
iary to  Trade  Unions,  and  Workers'  Educa- 
tion. 2nd  Edition.  New  York:  Work- 
ers' Education  Bureau,  1926.    20  p. 

ZooK,  George  F.  Residence  and  Migration 
of  University  Students.  Washington: 
Government  Printing  Office,  1926.  134  p. 
$0.20. 


News  Notes 


PERSONNEL   RESEARCH    FEDERATION 

News   Notes   of  Member   Organizations    '■ 
Yale  University 

A  Department  of  Personnel  Study  has 
been  established  at  Yale  University  through 
the  generosity  of  Charles  H.  Ludington,  of 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  A.  B.  Crawford,  direc- 
tor of  the  Yale  Bureau  of  Appointments, 
has  been  made  director  of  the  department, 
with  the  rank  of  professor. 

The  department  will  have  two  divisions. 
One  will  be  the  Bureau  of  Appointments, 
largely  as  constituted  at  present.  The 
other  will  be  devoted  to  assisting  the  orien- 
tation of  freshmen  in  the  choice  of  their 
upper  school,  discussing  with  students  in 
the  academic  department  and  the  Sheffield 
Scientific  School  the  election  of  courses  and 
careers,  collecting  data  to  aid  the  Board  of 
Admission  in  problems  related  to  methods 
of  selecting  students,  and  assembling  gen- 
eral information  that  will  be  helpful  in 
educational  and  vocational  guidance  and 
in  the  placement  of  graduating  seniors. 
President  Angell  said  recently  in  stress- 
ing the  importance  of  personnel  study: 

"It  is  an  extraordinary  circumstance 
that  so  large  a  portion  of  our  students  come 
up  to  the  Spring  of  their  senior  year  with 
little  or  no  plan  for  the  future,  with  no 
decision  as  to  the  field  of  work  which  they 
will  enter,  and  frequently  with  little  or  no 
knowledge  of  what  opportunities  are  offered 
by  the  world  of  affairs  to  the  college  grad- 
uate. This  is  peculiarly  striking  in  an 
institution  where  approximately  a  third  of 
their  classmates  are  partly  or  wholly  self- 
supporting. 

"As  time  goes  on,  the  day  arrives  when 
they  simply  must  have  a  job  and  so  they 
jump  at  the  first  one  which  comes  along, 
regardless  of  its  intrinsic  merits  or  defects, 
and  equally  regardless  of  the  likelihood  that 
they  can  succeed  in  it. 


"Now  a  certain  amount  of  rough  and 
tumble  at  the  outset  of  life  is  doubtless  a 
good  thing  for  many  types  of  men,  and  it  is 
certainly  impossible  by  any  device  now 
available  to  predict  with  confidence  what 
calling  any  given  individual  will  find  satis- 
fying and  in  what  one  he  will  succeed. 
Nevertheless,  our  present  procedure  in  the 
whole  matter  is  highly  irrational  and  deserv- 
ing of  radical  alteration. 

"Two  things  at  least  require  to  be  done, 
neither  of  which  can  be  accomplished  in- 
stantly, but  upon  which  a  beginning  can 
certainly  be  made.  There  is,  in  the  first 
place,  need  for  a  carefully  organized  bureau 
where  accurate  information  could  be  ob- 
tained regarding  contemporary  conditions 
in  the  typical  occupations  which  every  year 
absorb  the  members  of  our  graduating 
classes. 

"The  second  great  need  is  a  personnel 
service  which  would  help  the  student  to 
determine  with  some  exactness  for  himself 
what  his  real  qualifications  are  and  in  what 
fields  of  endeavor  he  can  hope  to  be  suc- 
cessful. 

"One  can  hardly  visualize  the  university 
venturing  at  this  stage  to  give  a  youth 
definite,  positive  advice  to  enter  a  given 
calling.  But  it  is  easy  to  see  how,  with 
judicious  advisers  working  with  a  more  or 
less  common-sense  technique,  using  well- 
recognized  personnel  rating  systems  and 
supported  by  such  psychological  methods  as 
can  be  matured,  a  boy  who  desires  it  may 
be  given  help  of  really  first-rate  conse- 
quence in  coming  to  a  fuller  understanding 
of  his  own  powers  and  possibilities." 

INDUSTRIAL  CONFERENCE   AT   THE   PENNSYL- 
VANIA  STATE   COLLEGE 

Prepared  by  B.  V.  Moore 

"The  Selection  and  Placement  of  College 
Graduates"  and  "The  Production  Officer" 
were  the  topics  of  discussion  at  the  eighth 


143 


144 


News  Notes 


annual  industrial  conference  under  the 
auspices  of  the  School  of  Engineering  of  the 
Pennsylvania  State  College,  held  May  13 
and  14,  1927.  The  program  included  papers 
and  discussions  by  many  personnel  officers 
and  other  representatives  from  large  indus- 
trial organizations. 

Mr.  C.  S.  Coler  gave  a  comprehensive 
presentation  of  the  problems  involved  in 
selection  and  placement  of  college  grad- 
uates, which  served  as  a  keynote  address. 
Then  the  conference  lost  no  time  in  getting 
to  fundamental  questions.  One  of  these 
problems  was  later  developed  by  Professor 
C.  E.  Bullinger  in  the  form  of  a  definite 
program  for  a  college  personnel  system, 
involving  the  use  of  rating  scales.  Dr. 
E.  B.  Roberts  pointed  out  that  the  results 
of  such  a  rating  scale  would  be  valuable  in 
aiding  students  to  improve  their  qualifica- 
tions, particularly  their  personality  traits; 
but  he  voiced  the  doubt,  supported  by 
several  others,  that  the  results  of  such  a 
mechanical  analysis  of  personality  traits 
would  be  used  with  satisfaction  b}'^  em- 
ployers. The  general  discussion  showed  a 
conservative  tendency  to  depend  chiefly  on 
the  customary  interview.  However,  the  dis- 
cussion resulted  in  a  resolution  Ix-ing  passed 
calling  for  a  committee  of  seven  to  studj^ 
the  feasibility  of  college  personnel  systems 
and  the  use  of  devices  such  as  rating  scales. 

The  second  chief  question  was  the 
method  of  providing  for  contacts  between 
college  graduates  and  industries  so  that  the 
interests  of  the  graduating  student,  of  the 
college,  and  of  industry  would  be  safe- 
guarded. Should  the  representatives  of 
industry  go  to  the  students  at  the  college  or 
should  the  student  or  some  representative  of 
him  go  to  the  industries?  The  problem  in- 
volved also  the  question, — should  the 
student  be  expected  to  take  the  initiative 
and  make  the  application,  or  should  a 
definite  offer  be  made  to  him,  and  if  so, 
when?  Action  was  taken  providing  for  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  study  this 
second  problem.  l"he  question  of  ethics 
was  raised  by  a  representative  of  one  of  the 
larger  corporations,  and  he  suggested  that 
there  be  a  more  uniform  practice  in  the  pre- 


sentation of  the  opportunities  of  various 
industrial  openings  when  interviewing  stu- 
dents. Evidently  there  was  a  feeling  that 
occasionally  the  propositions  have  been 
painted  in  a  rosier  hue,  although  in  general 
the  representatives  are  conservative  in  their 
statements  to  students.  A  committee  of 
representatives  of  the  industries  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  this  subject. 

The  address  of  Charles  M.  Schwab  to  the 
two  hundred  guests  and  to  the  students  and 
faculty,  given  in  the  Auditorium  which  he 
presented  to  The  Pennsylvania  State  Col- 
lege, was  on  "Sentiment  in  Business." 
Mr.  Schwab  has  a  happy  way  of  illustrating 
his  theme  by  stories  on  himself  and  then  of 
making  a  telling  point  bj'  a  few  words.  He 
emphasized  the  importance  of  the  human 
element  in  industry  and  of  a  sympathetic 
understanding  of  the  humblest  worker. 
The  personality  of  management  is  more 
important  than  technical  knowledge. 

The  third  session  was  devoted  to  a  study 
of  the  young  college  graduate  in  industrj-, 
plant  training  to  develop  his  major  aptitude, 
the  selection  of  men  for  promotion,  the 
problem  of  the  misfit,  the  lack  of  initiative 
and  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  some  to 
accept  responsibility.  How  can  potential 
capacit}^  be  developed  and  faults  be  cor- 
rected? These  are  problems  which  the 
executives  discussed  at  this  Conference. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Wickenden,  Director  of  the 
Investigation  of  Engineering  Education  for 
the  S.  P.  E.  E.,  gave  a  resume  of  the  subject 
of  technical  training  in  secondary,  colle- 
giate, and  trade  schools,  and  pointed  out 
the  need  in  this  country  for  institutions  of 
an  intermediate  rank  between  the  secondary 
school  and  the  college.  He  also  survej^ed 
the  educational  movements  within  the  in- 
dustries. 

Dean  Sackett,  who  initiated  these  annual 
meetings,  was  instrumental  in  guiding  the 
program  and  in  keeping  the  pertinent  ques- 
tions to  the  front.  The  papers  presented 
will  be  printed  for  distribution.  Inquiries 
regarding  the  raport  of  the  meetings  should 
be  addressed  to  Dean  R.  L.  Sackett,  School 
of  Engineering,  Pennsylvania  State  College, 
State  College,  Pa. 


News  Notes 


145 


LABOR   AND   THE    ELIMINATION   OF   WASTE 

Prepared  by  Spencer  Miller,  Jr. 

When,  in  January  1910,  Frederick  W. 
Taylor  presented  his  memorable  paper  on 
"The  Principles  of  Scientific  Management" 
before  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  he  received  a  great  amount  of 
comment,  commendation,  and  some  criti- 
cism. The  criticism  which  followed  came, 
for  the  most  part,  from  labor,  which  con- 
ceived of  the  time-studies  of  manual  move- 
ments and  rate-setting,  and  much  that  was 
put  forward  in  the  name  of  scientific  man- 
agement, as  autocratic,  and  in  total  dis- 
regard of  the  human  factor  in  industry,  and 
as  destructive  of  collective  bargaining. 

Since  that  daj',  however,  there  has  been 
a  distinct  change  of  attitude  not  only  on 
the  part  of  labor  but  also  on  the  part  of 
those  engaged  in  management.  The  con- 
sent of  the  worker  in  technical  changes  has 
become  a  matter  of  greater  concern.  The 
constructive  role  of  the  worker  and  his 
union  in  achieving  the  ends  of  the  scientific 
organization  of  business  have  been  more 
and  more  recognized. 

Perhaps  no  single  event  more  completely 
reflects  this  change  of  attitude,  than  the 
conference  on  the  Elimination  of  Waste 
which  was  held  in  Philadelphia  on  April 
9th  and  10th  of  this  year  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Philadelphia  Labor  College  and  the 
Central  Labor  L^nion.  Here  were  gathered 
together  engineers,  economists,  employers, 
and  labor,  in  a  labor  hall — with  labor  as  the 
host,  to  discuss  the  most  effective  and 
efficient  ways  of  eliminating  waste  in 
industry.  It  was  an  event  of  the  first  im- 
portance in  industrial  relations.  And  it 
took  place  in  Philadelphia,  the  home  of 
Frederick  W.  Tajdor, — but  seventeen  years 
after  his  famous  address! 

It  was  the  purpose  of  this  conference  to 
give  definite  consideration  to  the  subject  of 
waste  elimination  which  is  intimately  bound 
up  with  the  new  wage  policy  of  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor  as  set  forth  at 
Atlantic  City  in  1925,  and  the  general  proc- 
lamation of  a  five-day  week  as  enunciated 
in  the  Detroit  Convention  in  1926. 

"By  bringing  together  workers  and  scien- 
tific leaders  who  have  given  thought  to  this 


problem,  it  is  hoped  'runs  the  prospectus' 
that  through  joint  discussion  methods  can 
be  devised  for  the  application  of  the 
program  advocated  by  the  Federation  for 
the  benefit  of  the  workers  and  societ}^  in 
general.  The  pay  envelope  is  the  test  of 
the  soundness  of  any  plan  of  trade  union- 
management  cooperation  in  waste  elimina- 
tion." "Labor  realizes,"  in  the  words  of 
President  Green,  "that  its  future  welfare 
and  best  interests  are  interdependent  with 
industrial  progress  and  business  prosperity, 
and  we  are  placing  a  distinct  emphasis  on 
proposals  that  will  lead  to  opportunities  for 
cooperation." 

The  first  session  of  the  Conference  on 
Saturday  afternoon  was  devoted  to  a  dis- 
cussion of  Labor's  Participation  in  Waste 
Elimination.  The  session  was  opened,  pre- 
sided over,  and  occupied  almost  e.xclusively 
by  representatives  of  labor.  It  proved  to  be 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  impressive 
sessions  of  the  entire  conference.  Those 
who  heard  the  opening  addresses  of  Gustave 
Geigas,  President  of  the  Full  Fashioned 
Hoisery  Workers  No.  706  of  Philadelphia, 
and  William  McHugh,  Vice-President  of 
the  International  Printing  Pressmen's 
Union,  had  little  doubt  of  the  capacity  of 
labor  to  contribute  to  both  the  principle 
and  practice  of  waste  elimination.  The 
function  of  labor  to  keep  management 
efficient  was  presented  by  Mr.  Geigas  in  the 
following  forceful  manner: 

"The  employers,  we  have  found,  in 
man}'  cases,  will  put  off  the  installation  of 
all  efficiency  schemes  until  they  are  pre- 
sented with  an  organized  group  of  workers 
who  simply  refuse  to  tolerate  inefficiency. 
Management  will  become  more  efficient,  we 
feel,  wherever  labor  is  militant,  educated, 
progressive  and  shows  a  willingness  to 
cooperate  with  management  in  operating 
labor-saving  devices.  In  our  industry,  we 
feel  that  the  willingness  of  our  organiza- 
tion to  try  out  new  machinery  and  methods 
at  all  times  has,  in  the  long  run,  added  to 
our  earning  power,  and  has  probably  done 
even  more  to  add  to  the  employers'  earning 
power. 

"As  competition  in  our  industrj*  becomes 
keener,  waste  elimination  will  become  a 
more  urgent  question  with  the  employers. 


146 


News  Notes 


The  tendency  to  reduce  waste  by  a  more 
scientific  system  of  purchasing  raw  ma- 
terial, and  to  discard  the  stupid  system  of 
saving  pennies  and  wasting  pounds,  is 
becoming  more  marked  each  month  and  will, 
in  time,  help  to  make  our  industry  much 
less  wasteful  and  more  prosperous." 

His  entire  address  was  a  challenge  to 
management;  it  was  a  statement  of  the 
new  sense  of  responsibility  on  the  part  of 
labor.  In  similar  vein  did  Mr.  McHugh 
affirm  that  the  engineering  service  of  the 
International  Printing  Pressmen  had  not 
only  increased  the  sense  of  responsibility  of 
pressmen  to  the  industry,  but  had  enabled 
the  management  of  many  newspapers  to 
eliminate  many  wasteful  practices.  Each 
of  the  succeeding  representatives  of  labor, 
in  turn,  gave  out  of  their  own  experience 
examples  of  the  ways  in  which  workers  or 
their  unions  had  made  specific  contributions 
to  the  elimination  of  waste  both  material 
and  social. 

The  second  session  of  the  conference  on 
Saturday  evening  described  as  a  Waste 
Dinner,  was  presided  over  by  the  Secretary- 
Treasurer  of  the  Building  Trades  Depart- 
ment of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
The  subject  of  Waste  was  presented  by  Mr. 
Fred  J.  Miller,  Past  President  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
Dr.  Irving  Fisher,  Professor  of  Economics 
at  Yale  University  and  Matthew  WoU, 
Vice-President  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor.  Here  we  had  a  cross  section  of 
the  best  thinking  of  labor  and  the  engineer 
on  this  question,  with  an  evaluation  of  the 
whole  project  by  a  distinguished  social 
scientist.  Said  Dr.  Fisher,  "You  are 
making  history  and  starting  a  new  move- 
ment, even  though  the  roots  are  in  the 
past." 

The  indignation  which  was  manifested 
when  the  Waste  in  Industry  report  was 
put)lished,  revealing  that  of  the  total  causes 
of  waste  in  industry,  deficient  management 
was  responsible  for  more  than  twice  as  much 
as  labor,  has  largely  subsided,  asserted 
Major  Miller,  because  its  conclusions  rested 
upon  a  solid  foundation. 

"The  fact  is,"  he  added,  "that  there  was 
no  intention  to  fix  moral  responsibility  for 
wastes,  but  only  to  show  such  actual  respon- 


sibility for  wastes,  as  could  be  based  upon 
the  undeniable  fact  that  a  given  cause  of 
waste  was  avoidable,  removable  or  curable 
by  management  or  by  labor,  as  the  case 
might  be." 

In  discussing  this  subject  from  the  stand- 
point of  labor,  Mr.  WoU  asserted:  "These 
efforts  to  cooperate  with  management  in 
eliminating  waste  and  thereby  improving 
industrial  conditions  will  mark  the  Ameri- 
can labor  movement  as  the  most  far-sighted 
labor  movement  in  the  world." 

Waste  Elimination  from  the  Standpoint  of 
the  Engineer 

As  the  opening  session  on  Saturday  was 
devoted  to  a  discussion  of  Waste  Elimina- 
tion from  the  standpoint  of  labor,  so  the 
Sunday  morning  session  was  devoted  to  a 
discussion  from  the  standpoint  of  the  en- 
gineer. In  the  addresses  of  these  repre- 
sentatives of  the  engineering  profession,  we 
found  reflected  the  change  in  attitude  of 
engineers  toward  scientific  management 
that  is  the  measure  of  advance  from  the 
principles  as  enunciated  by  Mr.  Taylor 
himself. 

We  have,  for  example,  an  engineer  urging 
the  participation  of  workers  in  job  study 
so  that  they  can  attain  fair  wages,  fair 
hours,  and  fair  conditions  and  "what  is 
even  more  important,  they  will  gain  essen- 
tial knowledge  as  to  how  these  conditions 
may  be  preserved  and  progressively  ad- 
vanced." "By  participation  in  job  study," 
he  continued,  "through  representative  com- 
mittees, workers  will  gain  increasing  oppor- 
tunity to  share  in  the  creative  side  of  pro- 
duction, and  will,  I  believe,  be  moving  in 
the  direction  of  a  new  interest  and  a  new 
self-expression  in  their  work." 

What  a  change  in  attitude  toward  labor 
is  revealed  in  these  suggestions! 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  opening 
remarks  of  the  Chairman  of  the  session, 
Morris  L.  Cooke,  President  of  the  Taylor 
Society,  who  pointed  to  unemployment  as 
the  most  important  single  cause  of  waste — ■" 
the  core  of  the  problem  of  waste  elimina- 
tion. Regularity  of  employment  is  one  of 
the  first  signs  of  efficient  management." 
In  such  temper  were  the  addresses  of  San- 
ford  E.   Thompson  and  Robert  Thurston 


News  Notes 


147 


Kent — an  affirmation  that  science  could  be 
made  the  servant  of  industry  if  applied 
intelligently  to  its  problems. 

The  closing  session  on  Sunday  afternoon 
reverted  again  to  a  labor  session  at  which 
President  Green  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  made  the  concluding  and 
principal  address  of  the  afternoon.  It  was 
an  address  informed  by  the  same  humanity 
and  characteristic  reasonableness  of  all  his 
public  addresses.  He  said,  "Waste  in  in- 
dustry may  be  divided  into  three  classifica- 
tions: Material  waste,  hiunan  waste  and 
spiritual  waste.  Labor  has  given  most 
careful  thought  to  each  of  these  qualifica- 
tions, putting  emphasis  upon  the  human 
and  spiritual  rather  than  upon  the  material 
classification." 

Toward  the  elimination  of  the  first  of 
these  wastes,  said  President  Green,  manage- 
ment can  do  a  great  deal.  "On  the  other 
hand  Labor  can  assist  management  not  only 
in  dealing  with  the  problem  of  waste,  but 
also  in  dealing  with  other  industrial  prob- 
lems if  given  an  opportunity  to  do  so. 
Labor  is  willing  and  ready  to  do  its  share 
in  the  performance  of  this  important  work. 
The  trade  union  is  an  agency  through  which 
this  character  of  service  can  be  rendered." 
Then  he  proceeded  to  enumerate  the  way  in 
which  labor  has  already  begun  the  elimina- 
tion of  some  of  the  human  wastes  in  indus- 
try through  raising  the  standards  of  living, 
safeguarding  work,  reducing  unhygienic 
surroundings,  through  their  economic  and 
legislative  power.  Such  has  been  a  record 
of  labor's  concern  and  capacity  to  deal 
with  waste.  The  problems  ahead  call  for 
greater  action — for  more  united  action. 
Toward  the  solution  of  this  elimination, 
labor  will  muster  its  aid.  "Our  Nation," 
concluded  Mr.  Green,  "cannot  maintain  its 
industrial  supremacy  among  all  the  nations 
of  the  world  unless  it  fosters  and  nourishes 
those  spiritual  and  moral  values  which 
contribute  so  much  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
American  workers." 

When  the  conference  which  had  brought 
together  some  one  hundred  and  fifty 
delegates  and  as  many  more  friends  and 
others  had  reached  the  third  session  it 
paused  for  a  moment  to  consider  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  meeting  and  of  its  progress 


thus  far.  It  obviously  had  made  headway; 
it  obviously  could  not  solve  all  of  the 
problems  raised.  But  it  could  plan  for 
succeeding  meetings  and  recommend  similar 
conferences  in  other  cities.  It  did  both  of 
these,  and  as  a  result  in  Boston,  Chicago 
and  Denver  within  the  next  six  months 
similar  waste  conferences  are  to  be  held. 
In  the  next  place  the  ever  present  problem 
of  imemployment  will  be  the  subject  of 
special  consideration  at  a  conference  to  be 
called  again  by  the  Labor  College  of  Phila- 
delphia on  the  30th  and  31st  of  July  on  the 
campus  of  Bryn  Mawr  College  where  for  the 
sixth  successive  year  a  Summer  School 
for  Women  Workers  in  Industry  is  being 
held. 

This  conference  finally  called  by  a  work- 
ers' educational  enterprise  to  consider  the 
elimination  of  waste,  marks  an  important 
and  significant  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
American  industrial  relations.  And  the 
significance  of  this  meeting  is  not  in  its 
auspices,  its  participants,  or  its  subject 
matter.  It  consists  in  the  fact  that  for  the 
first  time  we  have  a  concerted  effort  to 
think  out  a  technique  of  cooperative  rela- 
tions between  labor  and  management 
engineers,  in  terms  of  a  specific  problem, 
in  which  both  management  and  labor  are 
deeply  concerned,  and  toward  the  solution 
of  which  both  can  make  a  distinct  contri- 
bution. 

The  dream  of  Frederick  Taylor  is  coming 
true  in  its  larger  aspects — for  both  labor 
and  management  engineers  are  making 
science  their  instrument  for  cooperative 
relations! 

CONFERENCE  OF  THE  EASTERN  COLLEGE 
PERSONNEL  OFFICERS 

Prepared  by  Samuel  S.  Board 

The  Spring  conference  of  the  Eastern 
College  Personnel  Officers  which  was  held  in 
Walker  Memorial  Hall,  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology,  April  loth,  offered 
an  ideal  combination  of  program  and  set- 
up for  a  small  conference. 

The  main  work  of  the  conference  was 
the  discussion  and  approval  of  two  enter- 
prises having  direct  relation  to  college 
personnel  work.     These  were  embodied  in 


148 


News  Notes 


papers  presented  by  Mr.  Crawford,  Director 
of  the  Bureau  of  Appointments,  Vale  Uni- 
versity, and  Professor  Harry  Wellman  of 
Dartmouth  College  in  the  afternoon  session. 
In  the  morning  a  number  of  those  attending 
the  convention  inspected  adjacent  manu- 
facturing plants  while  the  evening  program 
was  devoted  to  instructive  but  also  interest- 
ing talks  having  a  general  relation  to  college 
personnel  work  but  not  demanding  discus- 
sion at  the  time. 

The  afternoon  session  will  therefore  be 
reported  in  more  detail  as  it  has  a  direct 
bearing  on  personnel  work  as  a  whole.  Mr. 
Crawford  brought  to  the  conference  for 
final  approval  the  plan  for  the  development 
of  occupational  monographs  which  was  dis- 
cussed in  part  at  the  Winter  Conference  of 
the  Personnel  Research  Federation.  This 
earlier  discussion  resulted  in  the  formation 
of  a  national  committee  to  coordinate  and 
further  promote  the  development  of  such 
studies.  This  committee  asked  Mr.  Craw- 
ford to  present  a  tangible  plan  on  which 
they  might  work.  In  essence,  Mr.  Craw- 
ford's paper  suggested  the  need  for  a  series 
of  occupational  monographs  each  of  which 
would  cover  a  separate  occupation  or  a  dis- 
tinct group  of  occupations — these  to  include 
steps  of  advancement,  probable  salar\'  sche- 
dules and  other  similar  material  which 
would  be  of  use  in  helping  young  men  to 
make  an  intelligent  choice  of  career.  The 
suggested  plan  provided  for  a  thorough 
study  of  data  now  in  existence  and  their 
collection  for  use  by  personnel  officers. 
Since  this  idea  had  been  taken  up  at  a 
previous  meeting  to  some  extent,  the  dis- 
cussion centered  largely  about  the  list  of 
occupations  which  might  be  suggested  as 
needing  study  first.  Mr.  Crawford  had 
sent  to  several  of  the  colleges  repre- 
sented, a  questionnaire  asking  their  opin- 
ion as  to  the  relative  need  of  data  about 
different  occupations.  He  did  not  feel, 
however,  that  the  returns  had  been  suffi- 
cient to  be  representative  and  so  asked  for 
a  further  decision  on  the  part  of  the  meet- 
ing. After  a  good  deal  of  discussion  the 
following  fields  were  suggested  in  the  order 
of  desirability: 


Foreign  Trade 

Advertising 

Publishing 


Insurance 

Transportation 

Research 


Manufacturing 
Finance 


Public  Utilities 
Merchandising 


The  last  subject  was  felt  to  he  first  in 
importance  from  the  woman's  standpoint. 
In  addition  to  this  list  the  following  pro- 
fessions were  also  considered  to  be  worthy 
of  investigation: 

Teaching 

Law 

Medicine 

Accountancy 

Engineering 

Mr.  Crawford  was  instructed  to  report 
to  the  National  Committee,  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  the  approval  of  the  general 
plan  and  the  recommendation  that  an 
effort  be  made  to  secure  accurate  data  on 
the  above  fields  as  a  beginning  towards  a 
comprehensive  survey. 

Professor  Wellman,  who  had  been  asked 
to  preside  at  the  meeting  by  Paul  W.  Viets 
of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College, 
who  is  President  of  the  Association,  had 
yielded  the  premier  place  on  the  program 
to  Mr.  Crawford  in  order  that  a  decision 
on  the  matter  he  had  presented  be  secured 
early  in  the  afternoon. 

Professor  Wellman  then  took  the  floor 
and  read  his  own  paper,  which  is  one  of  the 
first  attempts  to  make  job  specifications  for 
the  various  positions  in  a  college  personnel 
bureau.  The  paper,  which  was  a  careful 
stud}''  of  personnel  work,  especially  as  it  is 
conducted  in  Dartmouth  aroused  consider- 
able discussion  on  the  part  of  the  members 
of  the  conference. 

Professor  Wellman  listed  five  main  phases 
of  college  personnel  work,  as  follows: 

I.  Statistical 
II.  Personnel  in  terms  of  the  individual 

and  the  curriculum 
III.  Personnel    in    terms    of    vocational 
advice  and  actual  placement 

IV.  Personnel  in  terms  of  Self-Support 

V.  Personnel    in    terms    of   Loans   and 

Scholarships 

An  immediate  querj-^  was  raised  as  to 
whether  some  relationship  was  not  desirable 
and  necessary  with  the  Committees  on 
Admission,  especially  as  it  might  mean  a 


News  Notes 


149 


continuation  of  records  which  would  be 
valuable  in  the  future.  Professor  Wellman 
was  inclined  to  feel  that  the  only  record 
which  was  feasible  was  that  of  a  man's 
experience  in  college,  but  the  other  members 
of  the  conference  seemed  to  disagree  with 
him  on  this,  and  after  some  discussion  he 
accepted  the  addition  of  this  responsibility 
with  the  proviso  that  he  would  not  want 
to  do  it.  The  question  was  also  raised  as  to 
how  close  a  connection  there  might  be 
between  the  data  secured  by  the  personnel 
bureau  and  the  reorganization  of  the  cur- 
riculum. Professor  Wellman  thought  that 
this  might  finally  result  from  a  well  set-up 
program  but  should  not  be  sought  in 
any  case  and  was  an  extremely  delicate 
question. 

In  laj'ing  out  his  job  specifications, 
Professor  Wellman  provided, — in  addition 
to  a  director  who  would  have  to  be  a  thor- 
oughly experienced  man  in  a  variety  of 
fields, — four  counsellors,  one  for  each  of  the 
years  in  college.  He  felt  that  only  the 
senior  counsellor  would  need  industrial 
experience  so  as  to  be  able  to  interpret 
industrial  organization  to  graduating  sen- 
iors. This  was  in  line  with  his  theory  ex- 
pressed a  number  of  times  in  the  past  that 
vocational  guidance  as  such  should  not  be 
undertaken  before  the  senior  j'ear.  The 
conference  was  not  in  entire  agreement  with 
this  and  was  inclined  to  feel  that  Professor 
Wellman's  plan  for  selecting  the  counsellors 
for  the  first  three  3-ears  from  undergrad- 
uates or  possibh^  graduate  students  might 
be  impracticable.  It  was  evident,  however, 
that  the  Dartmouth  plan  did  anticipate 
making  available  for  men  vocational  infor- 
mation before  the  senior  year,  and  the  need 
for  vocational  information  as  outlined  in 
Mr.  Crawford's  paper  was  stressed.  On  the 
whole  the  report  was  approved  and  will 
warrant  careful  study  on  the  part  of  all 
those  interested  in  college  personnel. 

Mr.  Viets  announed  that  at  about  the 
same  time  there  was  a  group  meeting  in 
Chicago  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a 
personnel  conference  for  the  middle  west 
similar  to  the  one  in  session  at  Cambridge, 
and  intimated  that  this  might  be  succeeded 
by  others  throughout  the  country. 

The  make-up  of  the  conference  was  of 


decided  interest.  Without  attempting  a 
detailed  analysis  of  those  who  attended,  it 
seemed  to  be  about  evenly  divided  into 
three  parts : 

1.  Those  who  were  directly  connected 
with  personnel  departments  in  various 
institutions. 

2.  Deans  and  other  officers  who  had 
allied  duties  and  in  many  cases  were  at- 
tempting to  handle  the  personnel  question 
at  the  same  time. 

3.  A  number  of  representative  men  from 
industries  who  have  been  interested  in 
the  question  of  the  use  of  college  men  in 
business. 

The  evening  session,  of  which  the  Chair- 
man was  Mr.  S.  G.  Plowman  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Industries  of  Massachusetts,  was 
of  an  entirely  different  tj'pe,  as  already 
mentioned. 

Mr.  Johnson  O'Connor,  whose  article 
"A  Measure  of  Mechanical  Aptitude" 
appeared  in  the  last  issue  of  the  Per- 
sonnel Journal,  spoke  most  interestingly 
concerning  the  use  of  tests  in  the  se- 
lection of  workers  for  various  types  of 
industrial  activity  in  the  General  Electric 
plant.  He  spent  quite  a  little  time  de- 
scribing the  method  of  evaluating  the 
Wiggley  Block  as  a  suitable  test  for 
engineers  and  told  some  interesting  stories 
about  the  results  following  the  use  of  pin 
tests  for  manual  dexterity  and  the  ability 
to  use  tools,  indicating  the  relation  between 
proper  social  adjustment  and  the  location 
of  the  individual  in  correct  work  activities. 
He  also  said  that  they  had  been  doing  some 
experimenting  to  determine  the  funda- 
mental basis  for  introversion  and  extro- 
version, and  he  impressed  the  group  with  a 
desire  to  know  more  about  the  very  sig- 
nificant experiments  which  have  been  con- 
ducted under  his  direction  by  the  General 
Electric  Company. 

Dr.  Elton  Mayo,  Professor  of  Industrial 
Research  at  the  Harvard  School  of  Busi- 
ness, spoke  on  the  place  which  the  public 
schools  of  Great  Britain  had  played  in 
English  educational  practice  and  the  de- 
velopment of  British  life.  It  was  a  refresh- 
ing departure  from  the  business  of  the 
meeting  and  a  clear  presentation  of  the 
social  and  educational  factors  which  have 


150 


News  Notes 


been  connected  with  the  large  schools  such 
as  Eton  and  Harrow.  He  explained,  of 
course,  some  of  the  background  of  our 
ovm  private  schools  which  prepared  for 
the  larger  colleges.  He  emphasized  the 
uniqueness  of  this  education  and  in  some 
measure  its  relation  to  other  systems  in  the 
rest  of  the  Empire. 

Dr.  C.  M.  Campbell,  President  of  the 
Massachusetts  Society  of  Mental  Hygiene, 
indicated  some  of  the  mental  hj-giene  prob- 
lems which  arise  in  connection  with  college 
students  and  what  might  be  done  with  them. 
He  succeeded  in  demonstrating  that  psy- 
chiatry as  it  might  be  practiced  was  a  very 
necessary  and  effective  aid  to  the  direct 
handling  of  the  abnormal  in  college. 

The  conference  was  adjourned  after  the 
evening  meeting  to  meet  again  in  the  Fall. 

SMITH   COLLEGE 

In  September  Dr.  Kurt  Koffka  assumes 
the  William  Allan  Neilson  Chair  of  Re- 
search at  Smith  College.  The  chair  is  the 
gift  of  friends  and  admirers  of  Dr.  Neilson 
in  honor  of  the  tenth  year  of  his  Presidency 
of  Smith  College. 

The  terms  under  which  the  chair  is 
established  are  unusual,  since  the  holder 
is  not  expected  to  teach,  and  is  left  ab- 
solutely free  to  study  and  experiment,  as 
he  pleases,  publishing  or  not,  as  he  prefers. 

Prof.  Koffka  will  have  provision  for  as- 
sistants and  will  have  at  his  disposal  a  fully 
equipped  laboratory.  His  research  work 
will  proliably  be  concerned  with  problems 
of  learning.  He  will  hold  the  chair  for  five 
years. 

Prof.  Kofifka  is  prominently  associated 
with  the  Gestalt  theory  in  psychology.  He 
has  studied  at  the  Universities  of  Berlin, 
Edinburgh,  Freiburg,  and  Wijrzburg,  and 
has  taught  at  Frankfort-on-Main,  Giessen, 
Cornell,  Chicago,  and  Wisconsin. 

THE   INSTITUTE    OF   MANAGEMENT 

The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  American 
Management  Association  has  granted  a 
charter  to  the  Institute  of  Management — a 
Research  Group  of  the  American  Manage- 
ment Association.  The  Board  elected  an 
Executive  Committee  of  fifteen  members  as 
charter  members  with  the  grade  of  Fellow. 


The  members  of  this  committee  are:  W.  W. 
Charters,  John  S.  Keir,  J.  H.  Barber,  F.  L. 
Rowland,  E.  O.  Griffenhagen,  Sanford  E. 
Thompson,  Wallace  Clark,  Dwight  T. 
Farnham,  Lillian  M.  Gilbreth,  Gordon 
Wilson,  Harry  A.  Hopf,  L.  P.  Alford,  Stan- 
ley P.  Farwell,  H.  G.  Kenagy,  and  C.  S. 
Yoakum.  Stanle.v  P.  Farwell  was  elected 
President,  L.  P.  Alford  and  Harry  A.  Hopf 
Vice  Presidents,  and  W.  J.  Donald  Sec- 
retary. 

The  stated  purposes  of  the  Institute  are 
as  follows: 

"1.  To  promote  the  study,  development, 
and  use  of  scientific  methods  of  research  in 
the  management  field,  encourage  the  record- 
ing of  the  methods  used,  and  cultivate  an 
appreciation  of  the  usefulness  of  such  meth- 
ods of  solution  of  management  problems. 

"2.  To  determine,  formulate  and  declare 
the  fundamental  principles  of  management 
and  to  standardize  management  terminol- 
ogy and  definition. 

''3.  To  encourage,  through  professional 
recognition,  those  who  are  competent  users 
of  scientific  methods  of  investigation  in  the 
management  field,  and  especially  those  who 
have  made  substantial  contributions  to  the 
science  of  management  by  the  discover}'  of 
management  principles  or  the  development 
of  new  management  research  methods. 

"4.  To  promote  the  coordination  of  the 
management  research  activities  of  the 
users  of  scientific  methods  of  investigation 
in  the  various  fields,  and  furnish  a  forum 
for  the  interchange  of  information  between 
them." 

"personnel" 

The  American  Management  Association 
has  renewed  the  publication  of  Personnel, 
formerly  published  by  the  Industrial  Rela- 
tions Association  of  America.  The  first 
number  is  a  four  page  leaflet  containing  two 
articles,  "Staggering  the  Payroll"  and 
"Ways  of  Discouraging  the  Stealing  of  the 
Product."  It  is  planned  to  publish  the 
magazine  quarterly  and  increase  its  size  to 
32  pages. 

The  name  Personnel  as  the  title  of  a 
pul)lication  was  first  used  during  the  War 
for  a  bulletin  issued  by  the  Committee  on 
Classification  of  Personnel  in  the  Army, 
the  committee  operating  within  the  War 


News  Notes 


151 


Department.  After  publication  of  this 
bulletin  had  ceased,  the  Committee  gave 
authorization  to  the  National  Association 
of  Employment  Managers  to  use  the  name 
Personnel  for  a  monthly  bulletin  which 
began  publication  in  January,  1919.  The 
National  Association  of  Employment  Mana- 
gers changed  its  name  to  Industrial  Rela- 
tions Association  of  America  and  continued 
the  publication  of  Personnel  until  October 
1921. 

COMMITTEE   ON   PERSONNEL  METHODS 

A  grant  from  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller, 
Jr.,  of  $20,000  a  year  for  three  years  makes 
possible  further  active  progress  on  the 
program  of  the  Committee  on  Personnel 
Methods  of  the  American  Council  on  Educa- 
tion. The  Committee  will  apply  this  grant 
to  the  development  of  model  forms  for 
personal  record  cards,  achievement  tests, 
rating  scales,  and  vocational  monographs. 
These  four  projects  supplement  the 
Council's  established  experiments  with 
psychological  e.^aminations  for  freshmen 
and  with  job  specifications. 

The  American  Council  on  Education  is 
inviting  the  following  men  and  women  to 
serve  on  the  committees  that  are  to  guide 
the  work: 

Central  Committee  on  Personnel  Methods: 
H.  E.  Hawkes,  Chairman,  H.  W.  Holmes, 
L.  B.  Hopkins,  C.  R.  Mann,  W.  D.  Scott, 
H.  R.  Wellman. 

1.  Personal  Record  Cards:  L.  B.  Hopkins 
(Wabash),  Chairman,  Mary  H.  S.  Hayes 
{New  York),  Carl  C.  Brigham  (Princeton), 
J.  J.  Coss  (Columbia),  D.  T.  Howard 
(Northwestern) . 

^.  Achievement  Tests:  H.  E.  Hawkes 
(Columbia),  Chairman,  Agnes  B.  Leahy 
(Connecticut  College),  V.  A.  C.  Henmon 
(Yale),  M.  R.  Trabue  (North  Carolina), 
Ben  D.  Wood  (Columbia). 

3.  Rating  Scales:  H.  W.  Holmes  (Har- 
vard), Chairman,  Grace  E.  Manson,  (Mich- 
igan), F.  F.  Bradshaw  (North  Carolina), 
Donald  G.  Paterson  (Minnesota),  E.  K. 
Strong,  Jr.  (Stanford). 

4.  Vocational  Monographs:  C.  R.  Mann 
(American  Council  on  Education) ,  Chairman, 
Emma  P.  Hirth  (New  York),  W.  W.  Charters 
(Chicago),  A.  B.  Crawford  (Yale),  C.  S. 
Yoakum  (Michigan). 


So  far  as  funds  permit,  each  committee 
will  have  clerical  and  statistical  help  and 
part-time  service  of  specialists.  It  is 
planned  to  hold  two  meetings  each  year. 
Headquarters  will  be  at  the  ofiice  of  the 
American  Council  on  Education  in  Wash- 
ington, where  a  central  news  service  in  this 
field  is  being  established. 

WHY  STUDENTS  LEAVE  COLLEGE 

The  Columbia  Alumni  News  for  March 
11,  1927,  contains  an  analysis  of  Why 
Students  Leave  College,  by  Edmund  B. 
Fox  and  Edith  Mulhall  Achilles. 

In  the  Fall  of  1925  a  study  was  made  of 
303  Columbia  College  men  who  were  reg- 
istered the  preceding  year,  but  did  not 
return.  These  303  men  represented  about 
15  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment.  Each 
man  who  withdrew  was  asked  to  give  his 
reasons,  while  letters  were  written  to  those 
who  did  not  return.  Fifteen  men  gave 
more  than  one  reason  for  leaving,  bringing 
the  total  to  318  reasons. 

Number 

of  Per- 

Reasons  reasons     centage 

Finance 94  29.5 

Scholarship 77  24.2 

Transferred  to  other  institu- 
tions   49  15.4 

Health 42  13.2 

Unknown 19  6.0 

Other  reasons 18  5.7 

Entered  business 12  3.8 

Discipline 7  2.2 


318      100.0 

Over  a  period  of  three  years  (1918-1921) 
67.7  per  cent  of  entering  freshmen  at  Barn- 
ard College  completed  their  college  course 
at  Barnard.  Of  those  transferring  to 
Barnard  as  candidates  for  the  bachelor's 
degree,  48.5  per  cent  completed  their  college 
course  at  Barnard. 

AWARD  OP  THE  JACOB  WERTHEIM  RESEARCH 
FELLOWSHIP 

Announcement  is  made  by  Harvard 
University  that  Mr.  Johnson  O'Connor,  of 
the  West  Lynn  Works  of  the  General 
Electric  Company,  has  been  awarded  the 
Jacob  Wertheim  Fellowship  in  Industrial 


152 


News  Notes 


Relationships  for  the  academic  year  1927- 
28.  Mr.  O'Connor  intends  to  continue  and 
enlarge  his  experiments  and  researches  on 
placement  tests.  He  will  be  remembered 
for  two  articles  in  the  Personnel  Journal 
written  in  collaboration  with  members  of 
his  staff:  "A  Measure  of  Finger  Dexterity" 
(January-February,  1926),  and  "A  Measure 
of  Mechanical  Aptitude"    (June,    1927). 

ADDITION  TO  THE  STAFF  OF  THE  PERSONNEL 
RESEARCH   FEDERATION 

The  Personnel  Research  Federation  is 
happy  to  announce  the  addition  of  Dr. 
Charles  S.  Slocombe  to  its  staff.  Dr. 
Slocombe  has  studied  at  the  Universities  of 
New  Zealand  and  London.  He  has  worked 
under  Dr.  Spearman,  and  holds  the 
doctorate  from  the  University  of  London. 
More  recently  he  has  been  engaged  in  educa- 
tional research  at  the  Lincoln  School  in 
New  York.  He  will  work  on  personnel 
aspects  of  the  problems  of  accident  pre- 
vention in  transportation. 

FORTHCOMING   MEETINGS 

The  Fourth  International  Congress  of 
the  International  Association  for  Psychol- 
ogy and  Techno-Psychology  will  be  held 
in  Paris  from  October  10  to  15,  1927.  The 
following  subjects  will  be  discussed: 

Techno-psychological     selection     tests 

Techno-ps3'chological  training  methods 

Problems    of    rationalization    of   work 

Applications  of  techno-psychology  to 

industrj',  commerce,  communication, 

administration,  publicity,  pedagogy, 

medicine,  law,  and  the  sciences. 

Inquiries  regarding  the  Congress  should 
be  addressed  to  Prof.  Lahy,  22,  Avenue  de 
rObservatoire,  Paris,  France. 

The  Third  International  Congress  of 
Scientific  Management  takes  place  in  Rome 
from  September  5th  to  8th,  1927,  and  will 
be  followed  by  conducted  visits  to  the  most 
important  industrial  cities  of  Italy. 

The  Congress  will  be  devoted  to  the 
discussion  of  many  important  problems  con- 
cerning efficiency  in  industry,  agriculture, 
and  the  public  service.  Among  these  are 
included  the  standardization  of  industrial 
products,    the    concentration    of  industry 


into  large  units,  the  distribution  of  effort 
in  industry  and  agriculture,  and  the  scien- 
tific investigation  of  the  skill  of  the  worker. 
The  Professional  Divisions  of  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  have 
a  new  policy  of  holding  meetings  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  for  their  separate 
divisions.  The  first  of  these  meetings  to  be 
held  by  the  Management  Division  will  be  in 
Rochester,  October  24th  and  25th,  1927. 
This  meeting  is  in  cooperation  with  the 
American  Management  Association  and 
with  the  local  section,  A.  S.  M.  E.  of  Ro- 
chester, of  which  Mr.  Ronald  C.  Hands 
is  Chairman.  These  meetings  are  to  be 
national  in  scope  and  should  be  of  interest 
to  more  than  the  immediate  locality'.  The 
speakers  are  being  selected  from  a  wide  area 
and  will  include  many  prominent  engineers. 
The  program  is  as  follows : 

Monday  morning  session,  Subject:  "Co- 
ordinating Wage  Incentives  and  Pro- 
duction Control." 

Monday  afternoon  session,  Subject:  "Co- 
ordinating Quality  Control  and  Produc- 
tion Control." 

Evening  session,  "Management's  part  in 
Maintaining  Prosperity."  This  is  the 
Management  ^Yeek  subject  and  this 
session  will  be  in  charge  of  the  local 
Management  Week  Committee  consist- 
ing of  Virgil  M.  Palmer,  Chairman, 
F.  W.  Lovejoy,  James  E.  Gleason,  Carl 
S.  Hallauer,  Frank  W.  Moffett,  Donald 
S.  Barrows,  Walter  L.  Todd,  and  A.  E. 
Crockett,  Secretary. 

Tuesday  morning  session,  "Economic 
Problems  in  Production." 

Tuesday  ajlernoon  session,  "Plant  Loca- 
tion." 

Plans  for  specific  subjects  and  for  speak- 
ers are  well  matured  and  will  be  announced 
later  in  full. 

COMMITTEE    OX    SIMPLIFIED    PRACTICE   IN 
PERSONNEL 

The  Personnel  Research  Federation  re- 
ceived in  March  for  the  work  of  coordinat- 
ing occupational  studies  now  being  under- 
taken bj'  the  Committee  on  Simplified  Prac- 
tice in  Personnel,  a  contribution  of  $300. 
This  gift  was  made  in  the  name  of  the 
late  Dr.  Merle  St.  Croix  Wright. 


Current  Periodicals 


Metzerott,  K.  a.  How  Studebaker  Selects 
and  Trains  Salesmen  for  the  Dealer. 
Printers'  Ink,  March  24,  1927,  Vol.  138, 
No.  12,  pp.  88-100. 

Heimer,  E.  J.  ^4.  Plan  That  Forces  Indus- 
trial Salesmen  to  Call  on  Small  Users. 
Printers'  Ink,  March  10,  1927,  Vol.  138, 
No.  10,  pp.  41-44. 

A  duplicate  report  system  that  helps 
the  correspondence  department  as  much 
as  it  does  the  salesmen. 

Callahan,  H.  W.  How  We  Keep  up  Inter- 
est in  Our  Sales  Contests.  System, 
March  1927,  Vol.  51,  No.  3,  pp.  323,  376. 

Gridley,  Don.     Making  the  Salesman  Like 

his     Quota.      Printers'      Ink      Monthly, 

March  1927,  Vol.  14,  No.  3,  pp.  72-75,  113. 

Factors  necessary  in  a  quota  plan  that 

salesmen  will  really  support. 

Anon\Tnous.  Getting  the  Net  Profit  from 
Sales  Conventions.  System,  March  1927, 
Vol.  51,  No.  3,  pp.  314-316,  368-374. 

A  complete  program  of  tested  plans  to 
make  national  sales  conventions  produce 
added  profits  in  proportion  to  their  costs. 

Merrill,  K.  G.  Some  Don'ts  for  the  Sales 
Manager  When  Out  on  the  Road.  Printers' 
Ink,  March  17,  1927,  Vol.  138,  No.  11,  pp. 
65-68. 

Object  is  to  make  the  salesman  appear 
as  a  man  of  consequence,  not  to  make 
yourself  appear  as  such. 

Whiting,  Percy  H.  Why  Not  Let  Your 
Salesmen  Write  Their  Own  Manual? 
Printers'  Ink,  March  3,  1927,  Vol.  138, 
No.  9,  pp.  10-12. 

Kean,  Wilfred.  How  One  Company  Gets 
Its  Sales  Manual  Used.  Printers'  Ink, 
March  10,  1927,  Vol.  138,  No.  10,  pp. 
109-112. 

Hay,  R.  C.  Field  Execution  of  Sales  Pro- 
motion Plans.  Printers'  Ink  Monthly, 
March  1927,  Vol.  14,  No.  3,  pp.  40,  132-133. 

Anonymous.  Introducing  the  New  Sales- 
man. Printers'  Ink,  March  24,  1927,  Vol. 
138,  No.  12,  pp.  121-122. 

153 


Wood,  J.  L.  Getting  Home  Office  Enthusi- 
asm into  Branch  Collections.  System, 
March  1927,  Vol.  51,  No.  3,  pp.  320,  380- 
388. 

Describes  a  method  of  actuating  col- 
lections in  much  the  same  way  as  sales 
competition  actuates  salesmen. 

Litchfield,  P.  W.  Managers  Aren't  Born 
—.  System,  March  1927,  Vol.  51,  No.  3, 
pp.  299-301,  394-397. 

Describes  promotion  systems  of  the 
Goodyear  Rubber  Co. 

Fisher,  John  A.  The  Ideal  Foreman. 
Management,  March  1927,  Vol.  28,  No.  3, 
pp.  42-46,  80-82. 

Methods  of  training  foreman  and  as- 
signing their  duties  that  enable  them  to 
attain  the  highest  personal  eflBciency. 

Anonjinous.  Tardiness  Control.  System, 
March  1927,  Vol.  51,  No.  3,  pp.  317,  414- 
426. 

How  seven  companies  tackle  a  common 
management  problem. 

Green,  Harold,  H.  How  Does  Good  Light- 
ing Pay  and  How  Much?  Manufacturer's 
News,  March  1927,  Vol.  31,  No.  3,  pp. 
13-14,  48. 

Fordham,  Thomas  B.  How  to  Treat  Work- 
ers to  Get  Results.  Forbes,  March  15, 
1927,  Vol.  19,  No.  6,  p.  24. 

Works  manager  of  the  Delco  Light 
Company  gives  his  views. 

KiTSON,  Harry  D.  Some  Problems  of  Voca- 
tional Adjustment.  Vocational  Guidance 
Magazine,  March  1927,  Vol.  5,  No.  6, 
pp.  271-273. 

Frank,  Edward.  Loyalty.  Manufactur- 
er's News,  March  1927,  Vol.  31,  No.  3,  p. 
31,  78-80. 

Freedom  from  labor  troubles,  elimina- 
tion of  the  sullen  faces  that  lower  morale 
and  the  enjoyment  of  the  power  to  pull 
forth  at  will  from  his  workers  the  last  bit 
of  creative  ability  are  the  rewards  of 
the  man  who  has  built  on  the  fundamental 
basis  of  loyalty  of  employes. 


154 


Current  Periodicals 


HoTCHKiss,  WiLLARD  E.  The  Human  Fac- 
tor in  Industry.  Management  Review, 
March  1927,  Vol.  16,  Xo.  3,  pp.  75-79. 

Jerome,  Harry.  Labor  Migration  and  Its 
Relation  to  Employment  Demand.  Manu- 
facturer's News,  March  1927,  Vol.  30, 
No.  3,  pp.  33-34. 

CoPP,  Tract.  Gains  in  Vocational  Rehabili- 
tation. American  Labor  Legislation  Re- 
view, March  1927,  Vol.  17,  No.  1,  pp. 
79-86. 

Herring,  Harriet  L.  The  Beginnings  of 
Industrial  Social  Work.  Social  Forces, 
March  1927,  Vol.  5,  No.  3,  pp.  502-507. 

Carver,  Thomas  Nixon.  The  Supposed 
Necessity  for  an  Industrial  Reserve  Army. 
Social  Forces,  March  1927,  Vol.  5,  No.  3, 
pp.  369-386. 

BowDEN,  A.  O.  Some  Causes  of  the  Bread 
Line.  Social  Forces,  March  1927,  Vol.  5, 
No.  3,  pp.  507-509. 

Watson,  C.  H.  Phases  of  Physical  Ex- 
amination Problem.s  in  Industry.  The 
Nation's  Health,  March  1927,  Vol.  9, 
No.  3,  pp.  30-31,  84. 

Clagtje,  Ewan.  Productivity  and  Wages  in 
the  United  States.     American  Federation- 


ist,  March  1927,  Vol.  34,  No.  3,  pp.  285- 
296. 

Anonymous.  The  Forty-Eight  Hour  Week. 
American  Federationist,  March  1927, 
Vol.  34,  No.  3,  pp.  344-346. 

States  six  reasons  supporting  the  48 
hour  bill  for  regulation  of  women  workers 
now  under  consideration  in  New  York. 

Thomas,  C.  V.  Some  Major  Movements  in 
Adult  Education.  School  and  Society, 
March  26,  1927,  Vol.  25,  No.  639,  pp.  376- 
380. 

Snedden,  David.  Vocational  Education  in 
the  United  States,  Principles  and  Issues. 
School  and  Society,  March  5,  1927,  Vol.  25, 
No.  636,  pp.  292-295. 

WooDROW,  Herbert.  The  Effect  of  Type  of 
Training  Upon  Transference.  Journal  of 
Educational  Psychology,  March  1927, 
Vol.  18,  No.  3,  pp.  159-172. 

Peters,  I.  L.  An  Adequate  Program  of 
Educational  and  Vocational  Guidance  in  a 
College.  Vocational  Guidance  Magazine, 
March  1927,  Vol.  5,  No.  6,  pp.  247-248. 

Anon%-mous.  Partially  Standardized  Pro- 
motion Tests  for  Police  Sergeant.  Public 
Personnel  Studies,  March  1927,  Vol.  5, 
No.  3.  pp.  51-65. 


Measuring  Morale  and  Leadership  Ability 

By  David  R.  Craig,  Research  Bureau  for  Retail  Training,  University 

of  Pittsburgh 

Dr.  Craig  scrutinizes  seven  possible  measures  of  morale  and  re- 
jects all  but  three,  namely,  per  capita  output,  quality  of  work, 
and  labor  stability.  He  then  describes  the  ways  in  which  these 
measures  may  be  made,  in  order  to  develop  a  better  working 
knowledge  of  the  conditions  and  influences  which  result  in  im- 
proved morale. 


OUR  task  today  is  to  see  whether 
quantitative  methods  can  be 
of  any  use  in  the  development 
of  morale  and  leadership  ability.  It 
is  written  in  history  that  understand- 
ing is  increased  and  progress  is  hast- 
ened as  soon  as  the  state  of  an  art 
permits  the  counting  and  comparison 
of  its  units.  Has  the  art  of  leadership 
been  sufficiently  analyzed  so  that  we 
have  now  arrived  at  units  which  can 
be  counted  and  compared?  Do  we 
know  enough  about  the  concrete  mani- 
festations of  morale  so  that  we  can 
help  ourselves  by  means  of  arith- 
metic? Or  must  we  admit  defeat  be- 
cause the  essence  of  morale  is  human 
and  because  the  relation  of  leader  and 
follower  is  in  the  last  analysis  a 
mystical  relationship? 

If  these  were  the  only  questions  at 
issue,  we  should  be  wise  in  turning  our 
attention  immediately  to  some  more 
promising  field  of  study.  But  they 
are  not.  The  quantitative  method  in 
social  science  has  faced  as  hopeless 
tasks  as  this  before,  and  has  found  its 
way  through  them.     Here  is  a  method 


which  can  be  used  to  verify  the  hy- 
potheses which  come  out  of  discussions 
concerning  the  nature  of  morale.  It 
also  has  other  and  perhaps  more  im- 
portant uses,  for  it  requires  in  many 
instances  the  reformulation  of  prob- 
lems and  it  directs  attention  to  points 
of  weakness  and  neglect.  That  is 
what  is  happening  today  in  economics, 
psychology,  anthropology,  and  sociol- 
ogy. Wherever  it  has  been  tried  the 
quantitative  method  has  accomplished 
something  which  we  commonly  think 
of  as  worth  while,  in  the  rejection  or 
support  of  hypotheses,  in  compelUng 
its  users  to  ask  their  questions  in  a 
fresh  terminology,  and  in  directing  at- 
tention to  new  problems.  Since  the 
topic  of  leadership  and  morale  is  a 
mixture  of  all  the  social  sciences,  the 
quantitative  method  may  be  worth 
trying. 

What  follows  must  partake  more  of 
the  nature  of  suggestion  and  plan  than 
of  accomplishment  or  report.  No 
quantitative  measures  of  morale  or 
leadership  have  been  undertaken  any- 
where on  any  satisfactory  scale  except 


155 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,  VOL.   VI,   NO.  3 


156 


Craig:  Morale  and  Leadership  Ability 


by  Mr.  J.  D.  Houser  of  Chicago.  And 
with  this  confession  we  can  start  by 
defining  our  terms. 

Morale  and  leadership  are  two  quite 
different  things.  Mr.  Tead's  defini- 
tion^ of  creative  leadership  may  be 
quoted  here,  for  it  seems  to  have  the 
one  important  quality  of  a  good  defini- 
tion, namely  that  it  summarizes  what 
most  people  understand  by  the  word. 
He  says:  "Leadership  is  the  name  for 
that  combination  of  qualities  by  the 
possession  of  which  one  is  able  to  get 
something  done  by  others  chiefly  be- 
cause through  his  influence  they  are 
willing  to  do  it. "  Also,  "leadership  is 
abihty  to  secure  wiUing  action  on  be- 
half of  an  established  purpose,"  and 
the  "creation  or  direction  of  positive 
desire  in  the  led. "  Morale  is  probably 
that  positive  desire  in  the  led,  the 
thing  which  results  from  creative 
leadership.  In  a  different  phrase,  the 
morale  of  an  individual  industrial 
employee  is  that  which  enables  him 
to  work  for  his  employer  as  if  he  were 
working  for  himself.  It  is  spontane- 
ous enthusiasm  for  the  purposes  of 
another. 

The  measurement  of  morale  and 
leadership,  however,  is  a  single  prob- 
lem. The  measure  of  morale  is  the 
measure  of  leadership.- 

1  Ordway  Tead,  in  "The  Nature  and  Uses 
of  Leadership,"  in  Bulletin  of  the  Taylor 
Society,  vol.  12,  no.  3,  June,  1927,  p.  394. 

»  Mr.  H.  S.  Person,  Director  of  The  Tay- 
lor Society,  pointed  out  in  informal  discus- 
sion that  he  did  not  think  so.  He  men- 
tioned a  company  the  morale  of  whose  man- 
ufacturing departments  is  excellent,  but 
whose  sales  and  administrative  departments 
are  badly  managed.  This  is  not  inconsist- 
ent with  the  foregoing,  for  in  the  long  run 
the  bad  management  of  the  sales  depart- 
ment alone  will  bring  enough  factory  lay- 
offs in  its  wake  to  impair  the  shop  morale. 


To  say  that  morale  is  hard  to  meas- 
ure is  to  say  nothing  new.  But  it 
will  be  possible  to  put  some  meaning 
into  this  platitude  by  showing  that  we 
cannot  measure  the  thing  itself  be- 
cause of  the  nature  of  it,  and  so  must 
rely  on  what  we  find  to  be  the  objec- 
tive manifestations  of  it.  It  will  then 
be  possible  to  show  that  with  most 
of  these  objective  manifestations  we 
must  proceed  cautiously,  with  our  eyes 
open  to  certain  problems.  And  after 
eliminating  certain  kinds  of  evidence, 
we  can  conclude  by  suggesting  a  pro- 
gram for  using  what  remains. 

When  we  define  morale  as  a  positive 
desire  we  forbid  ourselves  to  measure 
the  thing  itself,  for  in  any  real  indus- 
trial situation  involving  morale  we 
cannot  find  a  satisfactory  unit  of  de- 
sire. But  if  we  cannot  measure  the 
thing  itself,  perhaps  we  can  discover 
the  ways  in  which  it  becomes  manifest 
and  measure  them  instead. 

Whether  we  regard  morale  as  an  end 
in  itseK  or  whether  we  think  of  it  as 
a  means  to  a  further  end,  such  as 
lowered  production  costs  or  greater 
profits,  we  must  admit  that  morale  and 
low  production  costs  are  expected  to 
vary  together  and  not  inversely.  This 
is  fundamental  in  the  analysis,  and 
frequently  it  is  the  reason  and  the 
excuse  for  paying  attention  to  morale 
at  all.  And  if  production  costs  and 
morale  vary  together  and  not  in- 
versely, we  have  in  the  one  a  kind  of 
measure  for  the  other.  As  we  shall 
see,  it  is  not  a  good  measure,  but  it 
gives  us  a  hint  that  if  we  can  find  other 
concomitants  of  morale,  other  evidence 
of  its  existence,  we  shall  have  reached 
the  first  milestone. 

Production  costs  are  not  a  good 
measure  of  morale,  because  there  are 


Craig:  Morale  and  Leadership  Ability 


157 


many  other  influences  acting  on  pro- 
duction costs  which  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  case.  Production  costs 
are  ordinarily  classified  as  materials, 
labor  and  overhead.  If  the  prices  of 
the  materials  go  up,  we  shall  have  an 
influence  raising  the  costs  which  is  not 
a  result  of  bad  morale.  The  same  is 
true  of  many  of  the  overhead  items. 
And  we  know  that  wages  may  rise 
without  affecting  or  being  affected  by 
morale,  although  generally  there  is 
some  mutual  influence  present. 

So  we  cannot  measure  morale  by 
production  costs,  for  they  measure 
something  else  as  well,  and  we  cannot 
disentangle  the  various  influences  at 
work.^ 

What  other  concomitants  are  there 
of  morale?  They  can  be  listed  and 
discussed  briefly,  in  each  case  noticing 
whether  they  measure  anything  be- 
sides that  which  is  our  principal 
concern. 

First,  high  per  capita  productivity 
measured  in  units  of  output  per  man. 
Here  is  evidence  which  is  free  from  the 
direct  effect  of  price  fluctuations. 
What  other  irrelevant  elements  does  it 
contain?  It  contains  the  influences  of 
planning,  equipment,  organization, 
and  the  skill  of  men.  And  so  when  we 
use  this  measure  it  will  be  necessary 
to  make  allowances  for  those  influ- 
ences, or  to  rule  them  out  by  selecting 
a  short  period  of  time. 

Second,  good  quality  of  work  meas- 
ured as  percentage  of  accepted  units. 
This  is  another  factor  which  may  be 
expected  to  rise  with  any  noticeable 

^  Labor  costs,  as  one  element  of  produc- 
tion costs,  might  be  used.  Yet  they  too 
contain  a  price  element  which  fluctuates  of 
its  own  accord,  apart  from  the  influences  of 
leadership  and  morale. 


improvement  in  morale.  What  ex- 
traneous elements  does  it  contain? 
It  contains  the  influences  of  good  or 
bad  maintenance  of  equipment,  good 
or  bad  condition  of  the  machinery,  and 
the  kind  of  raw  materials  provided  in 
the  industrial  process  in  question.  Of 
course,  any  use  of  this  measure  must 
assume  that  the  standards  of  inspec- 
tion remain  constant. 

Third,  low  labor  turnover  measured 
in  this  case  as  the  proportion  of  the 
force  voluntarily  leaving  the  company. 
The  foreign  influence  here  is  the  fear 
of  unemployment.  In  a  business  de- 
pression voluntary  labor  turnover  is 
lower  than  in  times  of  prosperity,  and 
so  the  state  of  the  business  cycle  must 
be  considered.  But  there  is  another 
reason  why  labor  turnover  is  not 
satisfactory  for  our  purposes.  Sup- 
pose, as  in  a  certain  department  store, 
the  labor  turnover  is  about  150  per 
cent  of  the  average  working  force. 
The  figure  150  does  not  state  the  whole 
case,  for  that  labor  turnover  takes 
place  in  only  a  small  proportion,  one- 
fifth,  of  the  average  working  force. 
Stated  properly,  the  figure  would  be 
750  per  cent  of  one-fifth  of  the  force. 
Then  it  would  mean  something. 
There  is  no  excuse  except  habit  for 
generalizing  what  is  primarily  a  local 
malady.  The  labor  stability  in  this 
store  is  79.3  per  cent,  which  means 
that  at  the  time  this  measure  was 
taken,  79.3  per  cent  of  the  employees 
had  been  in  the  store  for  more  than  a 
year.  Whatever  turnover  there  was 
must  have  taken  place  among  the 
remainder  of  the  employees.  Since 
labor  turnover  as  commonly  measured 
is  an  inadequate  statement,  it  may  be 
abandoned  for  the  present  purpose. 

Fourth,  labor  stability,  measured  as 


158 


Craig:  Morale  and  Leadership  Ability 


the  percentage  of  persons  on  the  aver- 
age working  force  who  have  been  em- 
ploj'-ed  more  than  a  year.  This  figure, 
too,  is  influenced  by  the  business  cycle, 
the  fear  of  unemployment,  and  the 
attractiveness  of  competing  jobs. 
But  it  is  free  from  the  other  influence 
which  disquaUfied  labor  turnover. 

Fifth,  the  grievance  record,  measured 
as  the  number  of  grievances  heard. 
This  may  be  expected  to  vary  inversely 
with  morale,  but  there  are  two  ex- 
traneous influences  at  work.  One  is 
the  attitude  of  the  company  toward 
grievances  when  it  has  no  machinery 
for  hearing  grievances,  or  the  possible 
ineffectiveness  of  the  machinery  when 
it  does  exist.  The  other  is  the  fact 
that  the  number  of  grievances  may  not 
be  used  to  measure  morale  for  a  con- 
siderable period  after  the  machinery 
for  hearing  them  has  been  instaUed. 
That  is  because  the  first  installation  of 
the  grievance  machinery  always  brings 
a  cloudburst  of  the  grievances  which 
have  been  accumulating  for  some 
time  past;  and  until  those  have  been 
heard  and  adjusted,  the  fluctuations  in 
the  number  of  grievances  is  not  going 
to  be  a  good  measure  of  morale. 

Sixth,  freedom  from  strikes,  measured 
in  the  number  of  strikes.  This  makes 
an  exceedingly  weak  appeal  as  a  meas- 
ure of  morale.  Although  one  may 
expect  no  strikes  when  morale  is  high, 
nevertheless  it  is  absurd  to  think  of 
measuring  the  spontaneous  enthusiasm 
for  a  purpose  by  counting  the  or- 
ganized rcbeUions  against  it.  In  the 
marginal  situation  where  freedom 
from  strikes  might  serve  its  purpose, 
the  morale  would  be  immeasurably 
small. 

Seventh  and  last,  the  opinion  of  the 


leaders,  measured  (if  possible)  by  some 
such  device  as  the  rating  scale  or  the 
oral  or  written  questionnaire.  The 
obvious  defects  of  these  measures  are, 
first,  that  it  is  not  objective,  and  there- 
fore not  reliable;  second,  that  it  may 
not  be  a  well-informed  opinion;  and 
third,  that  like  the  other  measures  it 
is  not  altogether  free  from  other  influ- 
ences. The  leader  may  be  swayed  un- 
duly by  events  which  take  place  just 
before  his  opinion  is  asked,  for  in- 
stance, a  fight  between  a  worker  and 
his  foreman ;  or  by  current  market  and 
profit-and-loss  conditions;  or  even  by 
the  state  of  his  digestion.  But  the 
real  disqualification  of  opinion  is  its 
lack  of  objectivity. 

Summarizing,  then,  the  least  un- 
satisfactory measures  which  can  be 
found  are  the  per  capita  productivity, 
the  quality  of  work,  and  the  labor 
stabihty. 

How  can  these  measures  be  managed 
in  such  a  way  as  to  disentangle  the 
foreign  influences  and  hold  them  con- 
stant, so  that  what  is  left  will  really 
measure  morale? 

There  are  at  least  three  plans.  One 
is  a  long-term  plan  which  takes  into 
consideration  the  influences  which  tend 
to  spoil  its  usefulness  as  a  measure  of 
morale.  The  second  is  a  relatively 
short-term  comparison  of  conditions 
before  and  after  a  particular  device  of 
leadership  is  installed  in  practice. 
The  third,  which  may  be  called  the 
with-and-without  comparison,  is  used 
over  as  long  a  period  of  time  as  a  set 
of  contrasting  conditions  exists. 

These  measures  are  not  measures  of 
morale,  but  measures  of  fluctuation  in 
certain  aspects  of  morale.  It  is  im- 
possible   to    say    how    much    morale 


Craig:  Morale  and  Leadership  Ability 


159 


exists  at  any  single  point  of  time,  but 
it  is  possible  to  say  that  there  is  more 
or  less  of  it  than  before,  or  that  there 
is  more  in  one  department  than  in 
another.  These  quahfications  are  not 
serious,  because  the  whole  reason  for 
attempting  measurement  is  the  im- 
provement of  morale — that  is,  to  get 
more  of  it.  These  three  plans  can  be 
discussed  one  at  a  time. 

First,  the  long  term  plan.  In  this 
plan  the  suggestion  is  to  combine 
three  of  the  seven  variables  in  a  single 
index  and  notice  how  the  index  varies 
from  year  to  year.  The  three  varia- 
bles to  be  combined  are  first,  per  capita 
productivity;  second,  quality;  and 
third,  labor  stability.  Over  a  con- 
siderable period  the  fluctuations  of  a 
single  index  made  up  of  these  three 
ingredients  ought  to  be  a  fairly  good 
indication  of  the  tendency  of  the 
morale  of  a  company  to  wax  or  wane. 
The  period  through  which  this  measure 
is  carried  must  be  long  enough  so  that 
an  entire  cycle  of  price  changes  and 
changes  in  the  unemployment  situa- 
tion will  be  included,  to  ehminate  in 
some  degree  the  extraneous  factors. 
But  even  over  a  long  period  the  index 
must  be  used  with  great  caution,  and 
should  not  be  charted,  because  the 
finahty  which  seems  to  attach  to 
charted  graphs  may  lend  it  an  unwar- 
ranted importance.  When  it  is  put 
in  a  table  together  with  a  list  of  the 
qualifications  to  be  considered  in  in- 
terpreting it,  the  reader  is  not  so  easy 
to  mislead. 

In  practice  this  index  would  involve 
keeping  a  record  of  per  capita  pro- 
ductivity, of  the  percentages  of  ac- 
cepted units,  and  of  labor  stability,  and 
also  a  list  of  the  events,  such  as  changes 


in  equipment  and  organization,  which 
might  affect  these  records.  It  would 
involve  keeping  these  various  records 
for  a  period  of  at  least  three  years 
before  beginning  to  use  them. 

The  second  and  third  measurements 
are  less  remote  and  so  are  more  likely 
to  gain  immediate  friends. 

The  second  is  the  before-and-after 
type  of  comparison,  and  is  used  to 
evaluate  any  special  device,  such 
as  a  training  course  in  the  technique 
of  leadership.  The  company  which 
adopts  this  device  can  take  a  simple 
combination  of  quantity  and  quality 
production  measures  and  compare  the 
measurements  taken  before  the  instal- 
lation of  the  course,  and  again  immedi- 
ately after.  If  the  training  does  not 
last  longer  than  a  month  or  two,  the 
employment  situation,  the  organiza- 
tion, the  equipment,  and  the  skill  of 
men  are  likely  to  suffer  only  negligible 
changes.  That  is,  the  other  conditions 
remaining  constant,  it  is  possible  to 
assume  that  the  residual  variable  (the 
course  of  training  in  leadership)  has 
been  the  cause  of  any  differences  which 
may  appear.  If  that  is  so,  then  here 
is  one  way  of  measuring  not  morale, 
but  progress  in  morale,  in  the  results 
of  leadership. 

The  third  method  is  somewhat 
similar,  in  that  it  uses  the  same  fac- 
tors, quantity  and  quahty.  It  is  the 
with-and-without  comparison,  and 
serves  the  purpose  where  there  are 
two  departments  whose  morale  is  to  be 
compared. 

This  method  has  one  important 
limitation,  and  that  is  the  fact  that 
the  units  of  production  cannot  ordina- 
rily be  compared  directly  between 
deoartments.     The  simple  method  can 


160 


Craig:  Morale  and  Leadership  Ability 


be  used  only  in  those  departments 
where  the  units  are  comparable,  or  at 
times  when  there  is  a  change  in  the 
leadership  of  the  departments.  In  the 
latter  case  it  is  possible  to  see  how  the 
departments  used  to  compare  under 
the  old  leadership  and  how  they  now 
compare  under  the  new, — a  variant  of 
the  second  plan. 

Although  leadership  abiUty  is  dif- 
ferent from  morale,  the  measures  of 
morale  are  the  only  measures  which 
can  be  used  for  leadership,  so  long  as 
morale  is  defined  as  the  result  of 
leadership.  To  measure  leadership, 
then,  it  is  necessary  only  to  measure 
morale  among  those  who  follow;  and 
the  measures  which  can  be  used  are 
those  which  have  been  hsted. 

The  discussion  may  be  terminated 
by  mentioning  in  more  detail  the  sev- 
enth suggested  measure  of  morale, 
the  opinion  of  the  leader,  to  show  its 
weaknesses  and  to  show  why  it  was  not 
used  in  the  proposed  measures. 

Why  cannot  the  opinion  of  the 
leader  be  used  in  measuring  morale? 
Surely  the  leader  of  the  gi'oup,  especi- 
ally if  he  is  an  effective  leader,  is  aware 
of  the  state  of  mind  of  his  followers. 
If  he  is  intelligent  he  must  know  what 
they  are  thinking  about,  and  if  he  is 
sensitive  he  must  feel  their  reaction  to 
his  leadership.  "Why  is  it,  then,  that 
we  cannot  depend  upon  his  opinion? 

As  a  matter  of  fact  and  practice,  we 
can  and  do.  We  feel,  when  we  are 
talking  with  a  leader  about  the  morale 
in  his  unit  of  organization  (provided 
only  that  he  conceives  of  morale  in  our 
sense  of  the  word),  that  we  can  learn 
very  exactly  from  him  about  his  suc- 


cess. We  can  put  down  in  black  and 
white  his  very  words,  and  we  can  tell 
from  them  whether  the  morale  of  his 
followers  is  better  or  worse  than  it  was 
before. 

But  we  dare  not  use  this  as  a  meas- 
ure of  leadership  or  of  morale,  and 
that  is  the  present  topic  of  discussion. 
As  soon  as  we  start  counting  and 
comparing  opinions  about  things,  we 
have  got  away  from  the  objectivity 
with  which  we  approached  our  task. 
If  we  choose  to  do  that,  well  and  good; 
there  is  plenty  of  precedent.  But  if 
we  wish  to  stay  inside  the  hmits  of 
objective  measures,  we  must  have  data 
far  more  reUable  than  the  opinions  of 
the  leaders.  There  is  no  denying  the 
value  of  their  opinions  as  guides  for 
action;  they  are  practically  the  only 
guides  we  have.  But  there  is  no 
sense  to  their  use  in  a  list  of  objective 
measures. 

How  may  this  discussion  be  sum- 
marized? Three  methods  of  measur- 
ing morale  have  been  suggested,  one 
of  which  is  remote,  another  Umited  to 
almost  non-existent  conditions,  and 
the  third  practicable  over  extremely 
short  periods.  This  is  not  much,  but 
at  least  some  of  the  ground  has  been 
cleared,  and  one  of  these  methods  can 
be  used  for  testing  the  individual 
ingredients  of  leadership.  If,  as  a 
serious  program,  we  were  to  set  up  the 
systematic  and  scientific  testing  of  one 
device  after  another,  it  would  not  be 
many  years  before  we  should  have  a 
better  working  knowledge  of  the  con- 
ditions and  influences  which  result  in 
improved  morale. 

{M aniiscript  received  June  8,  19B7 .) 


The  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 

By  Samuel  M.  Levin,  College  of  the  City  of  Detroit,  Detroit,  Michigan 

The  history  of  the  Ford  profit  sharing  plan  is  illuminating  to 
economists  and  sociologists  as  well  as  to  industrial  executives. 
The  installatimi  and  progress  of  the  plan  during  its  first  six 
years  of  operation  were  described  in  the  August  number  of  the 
Personnel  Journal.  This  article  tells  the  story  of  its  gradual 
abandonment  and  sets  forth  the  various  causes  zohich  precipi- 
tated this  reversal  of  policy. 


THE  dissolution  of  the  system  of 
profit  sharing  in  the  Ford  Motor 
Company  which  had  been  inau- 
gurated on  January  12,  1914,  may  be 
accounted  for  by  the  following:  first, 
the  opposition  of  certain  Ford  execu- 
tives, whose  influence  and  power 
continued  to  grow  at  the  expense  of 
the  theoretically  minded  element;  sec- 
ond, the  skepticism  of  Ford  himself, 
whose  inherent  practicahty,  limited 
views  and  individuahstic  bent  pre- 
cluded an  abiding  attachment  to  a  far 
fetched  scheme  that  savored  too  much 
of  an  impracticable  ideahsm;  third,  the 
enormous  increase  in  the  scope  of 
Ford  industrial  operations ;  fourth,  the 
basic  unsoundness  of  the  plan  in  its 
economic  and  sociological  features; 
fifth,  its  complexity  and  cost;  and 
sixth,  the  failure  of  this  method  of 
profit  sharing  in  all  these  years  to  win 
a  single  true  adherent,  a  fact  easily 
conducive  to  a  sense  of  isolation  and 
futility.  1 

A  bonus  and  investment  plan  be- 

^  See  footnote  2  in  first  article,  the  Per- 
sonnel Journal,  August,  1927. 


came  effective  January  1,  1920,  which 
really  meant  a  reversal  of  the  policy  of 
1914.  After  this  there  was  no  theo- 
retical and  but  slight  practical  justifi- 
cation for  the  retention  of  the  old 
Educational  Department.  By  De- 
cember, 1920,  it  dwindled  to  a 
membership  of  about  a  dozen  men  and 
ceased  to  exist  as  an  independent 
department. 

INDUSTRIAL   SCAVENGERS 

At  the  very  time  when  these  mani- 
festations of  goodfellowship  were  in  the 
air,  the  system  compounded  of  profit 
sharing  and  sociological  endeavor  was 
near  its  end.  If  not  already  gone, 
its  days  were  numbered.  What,  then, 
were  the  handicaps?  What  factors 
came  in  to  undo  it?  Dr.  Marquis 
answers  by  pointing  out  that  there 
were  men  in  the  employ  of  Ford  who 
"never  imderstood  the  better,  finer 
poUcies  of  the  company  and  never 
ceased  to  ridicule  and  criticize  and  mis- 
represent the  efforts  put  forth  to  im- 
prove the  human  relations  within  the 
industry."     These  men  he  calls  indus- 


161 


162 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


trial  scavengers.  They  held  the  the- 
ory "that  men  are  more  profitable  to 
an  industry  when  driven  than  led,  that 
fear  is  a  greater  incentive  to  work  than 
loyalty."  They  came  to  the  front, 
and  some  of  them,  at  any  rate, 
"seemed  to  be  in  a  closer  and  more 
confidential  relation  to  Mr.  Ford 
than  those  who  stood  for  better 
things."  The  new  influences  which 
gained  the  ascendancy  made  impossi- 
ble an  honest  and  consistent  appHca- 
tion  of  the  better  policies.  Mr.  Ford, 
himself,  "lost  faith  in  the  early  ideal- 
ism, discovering  that  you  cannot 
govern  a  factory  by  idealists. "  Thus 
it  came  to  pass  that  "the  ideas  and 
policies  announced  in  1914-1915  be- 
came increasingly  difficult  of  enforce- 
ment. Rules  for  the  handling  of 
employees  were  bent  and  frequently 
broken." 

That  there  was  a  determined  op- 
position, particularly  on  the  part  of 
executives  connected  with  the  produc- 
tion departments,  is  unquestioned. 
There  were  men  in  the  organization 
who  looked  upon  the  plan  as  a  high- 
browed  attempt  at  deahng  with  in- 
dustrial problems  by  gentle  theorists, 
not  connected  with  the  shop,  and 
knowing  little  about  the  basic  interests 
of  the  shop.  The  important  thing  was 
to  bend  every  effort  to  produce  auto- 
mobiles. The  profit  sharing  plan,  on 
the  other  hand,  did  not  reward  men 
for  greater  production,  for  skill,  for 
length  of  service,  but  for  thrift, 
character,  family  support,  and  proper 
home  conditions.^ 

^  The  success  of  those  who  sponsored  the 
new  industrial  philosophy  is  clearly  shown 
by  the  manner  in  which  these  theories  are 
expounded  in  "My  Life  and  Work."    The 


OTHER    DIFFICULTIES 

Moreover  the  very  growth  of  the 
Ford  industries,  the  increasing  hordes 
of  employees  with  the  resulting  diffi- 
culty of  attending  to  all  the  investiga- 
tions, all  the  services,  all  the  adminis- 
trative impedimenta  raised  a  problem 
of  no  small  consequence.  It  might 
well  occur  to  the  minds  of  those  in 
command  of  policies,  that  the  whole 
thing  was  a  sort  of  excrescence,  a 
tumor,  interfering  with  the  business  or- 
ganism, and  that  the  health  of  this 
organism  required  its  quick  removal. 

To  explain  the  fate  of  profit  sharing 
and  the  "better  policies"  in  terms  of 
the  perverse  influence  of  unenhghtened 
people  is  of  course  inadequate.  The 
fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  plan 
was  not  clearly  and  comprehensively 
thought  out  in  the  first  place.  It  had 
little  or  no  relation  to  what  had  been 
done  by  others.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  opinion  of  sociologists  or 
industrial  experts  was  consulted.  On 
the   contrary,   Mr.   Lee    affirms  that 

following  excerpts  are  illustrative  of  this 
new  attitude. 

"It  is  not  necessary  to  have  meetings  to 
establish  good  feeling  between  individuals 
or  departments.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
people  to  love  each  other  in  order  to  work 

together The  sole  object  ought  to 

be  to  get  the  work  done  and  to  get  paid  for 
it"  (p.  92). 

"We  do  not  believe  in  the  'glad  hand'  or 
the  professionalized  'personal  touch'  or 
'human   element.'     It    is   too   late   in    the 

day  for  that  sort  of  thing The  best 

social  spirit  is  evidenced  by  some  act  which 
costs  the  management  something  and  which 
benefits  all  ....  "  (p.  263). 

"I  pity  the  poor  fellow  who  is  so  soft  and 
flabby  that  he  must  always  have  an  atmo- 
sphere of  good  feeling  around  him  before  he 
can  work"  (p.  265). 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


163 


"The  whole  work  was  put  into  effect 
and  supervised  by  the  employees  of 
the  company.  No  outside  talent  or 
assistance  was  asked. "  He  goes  on  to 
say,  "There  has  been  no  theory  used, 
no  mapping  out  of  various  courses 
that  we  have  pursued;  we  have  em- 
ployed no  minds  trained  in  philan- 
thropy or  sociology  or  any  other 
knowledge  gained  through  books  or 
university  courses." 

In  the  period  1914  to  January  1, 
1919,  the  same  wage  rates  were  paid 
though  the  price  level  was  rising  from 
year    to    year.     The    United    States 

TABLE  1 

Per  cent  of  increase  in  cost  of  living  in  Detroit 

from  December,  1914,  io  May,  1921 

■per  cent 

Increase  to  December,  1915 3. 5 

Increase  to  December,  1916 22. 3 

Increase  to  December,  1917 49. 9 

Increase  to  December,  1918 78. 0 

Increase  to  June, 1919 84. 4 

Increase  to  December,  1919 107.9 

Increase  to  June,  1920 136.0 

Increase  to  December,  1920 118. 6 

Increase  to  May,  1921 93.3 


Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  gives  a 
table  showing  percentages  of  increase 
in  cost  of  living  in  Detroit  from  De- 
cember 1914,  on,  which  is  very  illumi- 
nating in  this  connection.^ 

Until  the  end  of  1918,  however,  the 
Ford  Motor  Company  let  the  matter 
rest  at  the  level  of  the  original  mini- 
mum set  in  1914.  There  seems  to 
have  been  no  thought  of  bringing 
about  a  revision  of  wage  rates  or 
profit  rates  so  as  to  make  them  con- 
sonant with  the  new  situation.     Yet 


nothing  less  than  this  was  implicit  in 
the  plan  if  carried  to  its  logical  con- 
clusion. If,  as  Ford  argued,  $5.00  was 
the  least  a  man  with  a  family  could 
hve  on  in  1914,  by  the  end  of  the  year 

1917  such  a  worker  should  have  se- 
cured about  S7.50.  It  is  true  that  the 
company  did  not  pledge  itseK  for  all 
time,  declaring  that  if  hard  times  came 
it  might  have  to  reduce  or  modify  the 
distribution  of  profits.  But  hard 
times  did  not  come.  The  profits  in 
1915  were  more  than  twenty-three 
million  dollars,  in  1916  more  than 
fifty-seven  million,  in  1917  more  than 
twenty-six  million,  and  in  1918  more 
than  thirty.  Moreover  there  is  the 
fact  of  Ford's  apparent  creed  that 
wages  come  first  and  dividends  after. 
It  is  couched  in  these  words.  "If  it  at 
any  time  becomes  a  question  between 
lowering  wages  or  abolishing  divi- 
dends, I  would  abolish  dividends."^ 
Were  not  the  wages  of  1916,  1917,  and 

1918  lowered  by  a  considerable  per- 
centage, as  an  incident  to  the  rising 
price  level?  If  the  answer  is  given 
that  the  Ford  workers  were  actually 
getting  high  rates,  enough  to  fortify 
them  against  the  rising  prices,  then,  of 
course,  the  conclusion  follows  that  the 
scheme  of  profit  sharing,  as  such,  falls 
to  the  ground.  In  other  words  the 
funds  intended  to  reward  employees 
for  good  conduct  are  appropriated  to 
balance  inadequate  wages.  Yet  this 
is  exactly  what  occurred. 

And  this  brings  to  mind  another 
matter  of  signal  importance  in  ac- 
counting for  the  declining  fortunes  of 
the  profit  sharing  plan,  its  costliness. 
The  cost  was  twofold.     In  the  first 


2  Monthly     Labor     Review,     February, 
1925,  pp.  68-69. 


*  Ford  and  Crowther,  My  Life  and  Work, 
pp.  162-163. 


164 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


place  there  was  the  expense  of  main- 
taining a  growing  staff  consisting 
principally  of  advisers  and  office 
executives.  Within  three  years  time 
247  men  found  employment  in  this  de- 
partment. Even  if  this  group  did  not 
increase  proportionately  with  the  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  employees, 
still  it  would  have  grown  to  a  formida- 
ble size  with  a  working  force  twice  or 
even  three  times  what  it  was  in  1917. 
It  certainly  constituted  a  burdensome 
overhead.  And  when  the  house  clean- 
ing came  during  the  depression  of  1920, 
with  the  rule  inexorably  apphed/'that 
everything  and  everybody  must  pro- 
duce or  get  out,"  the  fate  of  this  or- 
ganization was  sealed. 

But  there  was  also  the  direct  wage 
cost.  If  Ford  were  to  maintain  his 
original  schedule  in  line  with  the  in- 
crease in  cost  of  hving,  he  would  by  the 
end  of  1917  have  had  to  pay  to  the 
larger  percentage  of  some  thirty-six 
thousand  employees  S2.50  more  per 
day  than  he  was  actually  paying  them 
or  than  was  warranted  by  current  wage 
rates.  If  we  assume  no  more  than  75 
per  cent  of  profit  sharers  this  would 
have  meant  an  added  cost  of  approxi- 
mately $67,500  per  day.  What  would 
it  have  been  when  the  increase  in  the 
cost  of  hving  rose  to  107.9  per  cent 
above  what  it  was  in  December,  1914, 
or  even  to  136  per  cent  as  in  June, 
1920? 

THE   NEW    RATES 

The  first  change  of  rates  came  on 
January  1,  1919,  when  the  cost  of 
hving  was  about  78  per  cent  higher 
than  it  was  in  December  of  1914.  The 
minimum  was  now  set  at  $6.00,  an 
increase  of  only  20  per  cent  over  the 


original  minimum.  And  even  this  in- 
crease seems  to  have  been  prompted 
by  a  growing  restiveness  in  the  ranks 
of  the  employees  as  evidenced  by  a 
chronic  absenteeism  and  a  readier  dis- 
position to  quit.  The  Ford  Man,  on 
one  occasion,  wrote : 

Evidence  has  been  brought  to  light  which 
indicates  that  a  well  organized  campaign  is 
being  carried  on  in  the  Ford  organization  to 
get  our  men  to  seek  jobs  elsewhere  with  the 

prospect  of  much  higher  wages We 

are  engaged  in  essential  war  work  in  the 
Ford  plant.  Every  man  is  doing  as  much 
good  right  where  he  is  as  he  could  do  else- 
where  ^ 

The  appeal  then  proceeded  to  remind 
the  worker  that  for  years  the  Ford 
Company  had  been  paying  him  "uni- 
formly higher  wages  than  any  other 
concern  in  the  world."  He  enjoyed 
ideal  working  conditions  and  many 
other  advantages  not  enjoyed  in  other 
places. 

Yet  a  few  of  our  employees  looking  over 
at  the  green  pastures  just  beyond  their 
reach  have  lieen  unwise  enough  and  disloyal 
enough  to  go  to  some  other  place,  where 
they  may  receive  a  few  cents  per  hour  more 
than  they  are  given  here. 

» Ford  Man,  October  3,  1918.  The  next 
number,  October  17,  1918,  carried  a  poem  by 
Edgar  Guest,  entitled  "Stick  To  The  Job 
You've  Got."  A  communication  printed 
in  the  issue  of  June  17,  1920,  from  Robert 
Wilson,  an  employee  in  the  Body  Plant,  is  of 
further  interest  in  this  regard.  It  suggests 
that  even  the  $6.00  minimum  did  not  heal 
the  trouble.  Wilson  writes:  "Every  one 
hears  remarks  made  by  some  Ford  employee, 
which  imply  dissatisfaction  with  conditions 
in  general,  and  that  the  Ford  Motor  Com- 
pany has  not  kept  pace  with  other  indus- 
tries in  regard  to  wages,  that  men  in  other 
plants  are  making  more  money  at  the  same 
kind  of  work " 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


165 


It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  com- 
pany which  so  frequently  reminded 
the  men  that  there  is  no  organization 
that  compares  with  the  Ford  in  gen- 
erosity and  helpfulness  was  obUged  to 
rapturize  on  patriotism,  war  work,  and 
loyalty,  to  keep  up  the  flagging  inter- 
est of  working  people  in  jobs  which 
no  longer  attracted  them  as  of  old. 

On  May  24, 1919,  a  minimum  hourly 
rate  of  60  cents  was  adopted,  with  a 
straight  profit  payment  of  15  cents  an 
hour,  and  a  classification  of  nine  dif- 
ferent grades  of  skill.  The  hourly 
rates  including  the  profit  began  with 
75  cents  and  rose  successively  by 
increments  of  5  cents  to  $1.15. 

Nominally,  then,  profit  sharing  was 
retained,  but  it  was  not  the  profit 
sharing  of  earUer  days.  The  "profit 
rates"  now  were  reduced  and  stand- 
ardized. The  discriminations  were 
ironed  out.  The  wage  rates,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  raised,  so  that  the 
lowest  hourly  wage  was  four  times  the 
amount  of  the  "profit."  The  proba- 
tionary period  of  six  months,  as  pre- 
viously pointed  out,  was  changed  to 
thirty  days.  As  to  investigations  for 
checking  up,  instead  of  one  a  month 
on  the  average,  there  were  now  only 
three  all  told — the  first  examination  at 
hiring,  the  second  five  months  later, 
the  third  eighteen  months  later. 

In  reality  the  schedule  of  May,  1919, 
stabilized  the  order  fixed  on  January  1 
of  the  same  year,  when  the  minimum 
wage,  was  raised  to  S6.00.  This  mini- 
mum has  remained  to  the  present  day, 
appUcable  after  a  two  months  waiting 
period.  The  emphasis  was  on  the 
wage  though  profit  sharing  may  still 
have  had  a  sort  of  sjnnbolic  significa- 
tion.    At   a  later   date.   Ford   could 


unfeignedly  say:  "We  have  put  our 
estimate  of  profits  into  the  wage  and 
are  now  paying  higher  wages  than 
during  the  boom  times  after  the  war. " 
Thus  we  see  the  outlines  of  profit 
sharing  fade  out  of  the  picture.  But 
the  foundations  of  the  sociological 
organization  were  hkewise  giving  way. 
Its  future  was  precarious.  With  wage 
rates  generally  rising  so  that  httle 
was  left  of  the  margin  between  Ford 
wage  rates  and  those  paid  outside, 
there  was  no  longer  an  effective  argu- 
ment for  investigations.  Moreover  as 
the  men  found  the  company's  award 
of  profits  thinning  out,  and  came  to 
look  upon  the  so-called  profit  as  simply 
a  part  of  their  regular  wages,  they 
naturally  felt  more  and  more  disin- 
cHned  to  put  up  with  home  visitations 
and  gratuitous  meddling  with  their 
affairs. 

THE   BONUS 

As  the  old  methods  were  being 
thrown  into  the  discard,  new  devices 
were  in  the  stage  of  incubation. 
These  were  the  bonus  plan  and  invest- 
ment certificates.  The  bonus  and  the 
certificates  were  announced  and  ex- 
plained to  Ford  employees  in  the  Ford 
Man  of  December  31,  1919.  The 
announcement  was  to  this  effect:  "A 
bonus  plan  recognizing  skill  and  length 
of  service  has  been  adopted  and  will 
continue  in  force  in  addition  to  the 
profit  sharing  plan  instituted  in  1914. " 
It  explained  that  investment  cer- 
tificates would  be  issued.  It  pointed 
out  that  Henry  Ford  and  his  son  had 
acquired  full  and  complete  ownership 
and  control  of  the  company,  and  that 
"this  end  has  been  sought  with  the 
purpose  in  mind  of  so  shaping  the 


166 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


policy  of  the  company  that  the  men 
in  its  employ  may  participate  to  a 
greater  extent  than  ever  before  in  its 
prosperity." 

What  was  this  pohcy?  It  was  to 
distribute  a  bonus,  beginning  with 
January  1,  1920,  to  all  employees  who 
had  been  in  the  service  of  the  company 
for  a  period  longer  than  three  months. 
The  bonus  varied  with  income  and 
length  of  service  from  S50  paid  to  em- 
ployees rated  at  $6.00  and  hired  prior 
to  October  1,  1919,  to  S270  paid  to  em- 
ployees rated  at  $10.80  and  hired 
prior  to  October  1,  1914. 

The  bonus  proposition,  it  is  clear,  re- 
versed the  order  of  1914,  first  by  re- 
warding length  of  service  and  skill 
instead  of  character  and  proper  Hving ; 
secondly,  by  being  paid  out  in  a  lump 
sUm  at  the  close  of  the  year  instead  of 
in  the  form  of  bi-weekly  distributions 
charged  against  anticipated  profit. 
The  first  bonus,  coming  in  the  month 
of  January,  1920,  was  a  recompense 
for  the  whole  or  part  of  the  preceding 
year.  It  was,  in  other  words,  a  new 
sharing  scheme,  more  after  the  con- 
ventional kind,  based  on  rates  already 
stabihzed  by  the  arrangement  of  May, 
1919. 

But  did  the  new  poUcy  in  fact 
enable  the  men  to  participate  to  a 
greater  extent  than  ever  before  in  the 
company's  prosperity?  To  share  to  a 
greater  extent  than  ever  before  in  the 
prosperity  of  the  company  would 
mean  to  share  in  a  prosperity  repre- 
sented in  1919  by  about  seventy  mil- 
lion dollars  of  profits  instead  of  thirty 
million.  Yet  the  purchasing  power  of 
tne  sum  of  the  bonus  and  current  rates 
was,  for  the  great  mass  of  workers, 
much  less  than  the  $5.00  minimum 


paid  when  profit  sharing  first  began. 
In  December,  1919,  the  cost  of  living 
in  the  City  of  Detroit  had  climbed  to 
107.9  per  cent  over  that  of  December, 
1914.  This  meant  that  the  purchasing 
power  of  a  dollar  just  about  the  time 
the  bonus  was  coming  out  was  4S.1  per 
cent  of  what  it  had  been  five  years 
earlier.  In  other  words,  a  $6.00  mini- 
mmn  would  buy  as  much  as  S2.88  had 
bought  in  1914,  the  equivalent  of  36 
cents  per  hour  for  an  eight-hour  day. 
A  $50.00  bonus  would  mean  an  in- 
crease of  only  $1.00  per  week  for  a 
working  year  of  50  weeks.  If  this 
dollar  is  reckoned  on  the  basis  of  its 
lower  purchasing  power  in  1920  it 
amounts  to  about  48  cents  per  week  or 
1  cent  extra  per  hour.  The  daily  wage 
of  an  employee  getting  a  rate  of  $6.80 
would  be  the  equivalent  of  $3.27 ;  with 
a  high  bonus  of  $110.00  after  two  and 
a  quarter  years  of  service,  his  added 
income  would  amount  to  $52.91  on  the 
1914  scale  or  approximately  2  cents 
extra  per  hour.  One  must  remember 
also  that  the  cost  of  living  in  1920  was 
higher  than  it  was  in  December,  1919. 
In  June,  1920,  it  had  risen  to  136  per 
cent  above  December,  1914,  and  in 
December,  1920,  it  was  still  118  per 
cent  higher.  How,  then,  did  the  new 
rates  compare  even  with  the  minimum 
of  1914?"     There  was,  it  is  true,  the 

8  There  was  a  matter  of  fact  a  slight  ad- 
vance in  costs  during  1914,  so  that  the  differ- 
ential if  based  on  Januarj-,  1914,  costs  would 
be  even  greater  than  these  figures  indicate. 
(See  Monthly  Labor  Review,  March  1925, 
p.  38,  for  changes  in  retail  prices  of  principal 
articles  of  food  in  the  United  States  from 
1913  to  1920.)  In  fact  the  wage  situation 
was  so  pressing  that  beginning  March  23, 
1920,  Ford  paid  an  extra  10  per  cent  of  the 
regular  rates  to  men  working  on  the  night 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


167 


investment  certificate,  but  this,  as  will 
appear  later,  did  not  significantly 
change  the  situation. 

Despite  these  facts  the  company  in- 
sisted on  deluding  itself  with  the  no- 
tion that  the  $6.00  wage  was  an 
increase  over  the  So. 00  wage,  and  that 
after  January  1,  1920,  profit  sharing 
was  still  going  on  in  the  good  old  way, 
the  bonus  being  "an  addition  to  the 
profit  sharing  plan  instituted  in  1914. " 
The  "Ford  Industries,"  published  by 
the  Ford  Motor  Company  in  1924, 
observes:  "Notwithstanding  this  (pre- 
diction of  total  ruin)  the  plan  (1914 
minimum  of  S5.00)  has  worked  out  so 
well  that  the  minimum  wage  has  been 
increased  to  $6.00  a  day."^  And  so 
the  implication  in  these  words,  found 
in  "My  Life  and  Work:"  "The  pay- 
ment of  five  dollars  a  day  for  an  eight- 
hour  day  was  one  of  the  finest  cost 
cutting  moves  we  ever  made,  and  the  six 
dollar  day  was  cheaper  than  the  five." 
If  the  last  clause  is  taken  literally,  no 
one  can  have  any  quarrel  with  its 
author,  but  as  the  plain  meaning  is, 
cheaper  in  the  sense  of  an  advance  in 
wages  from  five  to  six  dollars,  making 
for  more  cost  cutting  in  manufacture, 
the  sophistry  of  the  statement  is 
evident. 

For  one  more  year  (January,  1921) 
the  Ford  Motor  Company  paid  the 
bonus,  a  sum  of  $7,000,000.  From 
that  time  on  the  bonus  plan  which 
started  off  auspiciously  with  the  assur- 
ance that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
company  to  continue  the  annual  dis- 

and  the  late  afternoon  shifts  at  Highland 
Park,    River   Rouge,    and   the   Carburetor 
plants.    A    S6.00    man    received    $6.60;    a 
$6.40  man,  $7.04,  and  so  on. 
^  Ford  Industries,  p.  111. 


tribution  of  bonuses,  if  in  the  judgment 
of  the  directors  the  earnings  would 
permit,  seems  to  have  fallen  into  de- 
cay. Surely  the  trouble  was  not  in  a 
dearth  of  earnings.  Since  1921  the 
bonus  has  been  given  only  to  the  older 
workers,  that  is,  to  those  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  company  when  the  first 
bonus  went  into  effect,  and  in  the 
form  of  an  addition  of  an  extra  few 
cents  to  the  wage  rate.  It  has  nothing 
to  do  with  new  men. 

INVESTMENT   CERTIFICATES 

The  announcement  of  investment 
certificates,  it  will  be  recalled,  accom- 
panied that  of  the  bonus.  Indeed,  the 
bonus  was  said  to  fit  in  with  the  in- 
vestment plan,  since  the  bonus  re- 
ceipts made  the  certificates  available 
at  once.  Ford  employees,  whether 
executives  or  shop  men,  the  world 
over,  with  the  sole  exception  of  the 
Ford  Motor  Company  of  Canada,  were 
offered  the  opportunity  to  invest  a 
maximum  of  one-third  of  their  pay  in 
these  certificates  which  were  issued  in 
denominations  of  $100,  $500,  and 
$1,000.  The  company  guaranteed  an 
annual  interest  of  6  per  cent  on  face 
value,  and  additional  payments  at  the 
discretion  of  the  board  of  directors. 
The  payments  were  to  come  in  semi- 
annual installments,  July  1  and  Janu- 
ary 1. 

Though  the  plan  was  described  as 
opening  the  door  into  stock  holding 
for  Ford  employees  anywhere  "regard- 
less of  classification,  length  of  service, 
race,  color,  or  sex,"  the  certificates 
were  far  from  being  shares  of  stock 
in  the  generally  accepted  sense  of  the 
term.  They  were  non-negotiable  and 
non-assignable  and  could  only  be  held 


168 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


by  persons  in  actual  and  active  service 
in  the  company.  If  an  employee  died, 
the  certificates  became  payable  at  once 
to  the  personal  representative  of  the 
deceased  plus  interest  due  thereon  at 
6  per  cent.  It  was  provided,  however, 
that  certificates  standing  in  the  name 
of  a  deceased  party  might  continue  at 
the  discretion  of  the  directors  of  the 
company  to  draw  interest  and  pay- 
ments for  dependents. 

The  company  assured  itself  of  undis- 
puted power  to  control  the  situation, 
if  need  were  to  arise.  Thus  it  reserved 
the  right  to  call  in  any  or  all  invest- 
ment certificates  and  receipts  for 
partial  payments  made  thereon,  at  any 
time,  by  paying  holders  in  cash  for  the 
face  value  of  the  certificates,  together 
with  interest  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent 
per  annum,  or  the  amount  paid  as 
partial  payments  toward  certificates 
with  interest  at  the  rate  of  3  per  cent 
per  annum.  It  also  reserved  the  right 
to  require  thirty  days  notice  in  writing 
of  the  intention  of  an  employee  to 
demand  payment  of  certificates.  An 
employee  withdrawing  such  funds  re- 
ceived interest  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent 
per  annimi  for  fully  paid  certificates 
and  3  per  cent  on  partial  payments. 

Upon  quitting,  the  company  im- 
mediately paid  off  the  amount  of  the 
certificates,  together  with  any  install- 
ment payments  plus  accrued  return 
thereon.  While  the  bonus  was  being 
paid,  the  men  were  permitted  to  in- 
vest all  or  any  part  of  it  under  SI 00 
(the  lowest  denomination  of  the  cer- 
tificates). The  company  accepted  in- 
stallments of  SI. 00  or  more,  but  fixed 
the  limit  at  one-third  of  each  pay. 
Payments,  moreover,  had  to  be  made 
on  pay  day  or  on  either  of  the  two 


days  following  pay  day,  not  counting 
Sundays  and  holidays.  No  money 
withdrawn  from  a  bank  account  or 
secured  from  outside  sources  or  with- 
drawn from  investment  could  apply 
to  purchase  of  these  certificates. 
"Only  money  taken  out  of  pay  re- 
ceived from  the  Ford  companies  can 
be  used  for  this  purpose,"  and  that 
only  if  paid  within  the  time  hmit. 

Approximately  18,000  Ford  em- 
ployees shared  in  the  mid-year  distri- 
bution of  1922,  30,000  a  year  later, 
and  39,000  in  June,  1924,  the  last 
figure  indicating  that  about  25  per 
cent  of  the  total  number  of  Ford 
employees  had  become  subscribers. 

However  commendable  the  invest- 
ment plan  was,  it  meant  little  from  the 
standpoint  of  sharing  to  a  greater  ex- 
tent in  the  company's  prosperity.  It 
reached  only  a  fraction  of  the  em- 
ployees, it  restricted  their  investments 
to  a  comparatively  small  sum  and 
spread  this  over  the  year.  From  the 
many  rules,  mostly  of  a  restrictive 
character,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
management  did  not  want  the  men 
to  invest  too  much.  The  company 
did  very  Httle  to  keep  the  plan  before 
the  employees,  contenting  itself  in  the 
first  two  years  with  notices  in  the  Ford 
Man  and  later  in  the  semi-monthly 
Ford  News.  Since  1922  even  that  has 
been  discontinued. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  an  important 
representative  of  this  department  that 
the  executives  rather  than  the  laborers 
have  proved  the  best  customers.  An 
investment  of  a  third  of  the  salary  of 
an  executive  might  run  into  several 
thousands;  the  investment  of  a  third 
of  the  salary  of  an  average  laborer 
would  give  him  the  prospect  of  collect- 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


169 


ing  at  most  an  extra  8  per  cent  on  some 
six  or  eight  hundred  dollars.  This  is 
of  some  consequence,  but  by  no  means 
sufficient  to  justify  the  pretentious 
claims  made  for  this  innovation,  as, 
for  example,  when  Ford  asserts: 
"  .  .  .  .  the  broad  workable  plan 
of  investment  and  participation  will 
do  more  to  solidify  industry  and 
strengthen  organization  than  will  any 
social  work  outside."* 

THE   PASSING   OF   PATERNALISTIC 
WELFARE 

By  the  middle  of  1920  there  was  no 
theoretical,  and  in  the  posture  of 
affairs,  little  practical  justification  for 
the  retention  of  the  old  Educational 
Department.  The  old  paternaUstic 
welfare  philosophy  no  longer  held  any 
lure  to  Ford.  If  anything,  it  was 
repugnant.  "Paternahsm, "  he  says, 
"has  no  place  in  industry.  Welfare 
work  that  consists  of  prying  into  em- 
ployees' private  concerns  is  out  of 
date. "  It  took  the  depression  of  1920 
to  wipe  it  out,  except  for  a  small  group 
of  twelve  that  continued  to  style  it- 
self the  Sociological  Department.  A 
ruthless  house  cleaning  took  place  at 
that  time.  It  was  a  time  when  Ford 
cut  his  office  forces  in  half  and  offered 
office  workers  "better  jobs  in  the 
shops, "  when  statistics  were  swept  out, 
because  "statistics  will  not  construct 
automobiles, "  when  60  per  cent  of  the 
telephone  extensions  were  eliminated, 
and  when  overhead  charges  for  a  car 
were  reduced  from  S146  to  $93.  In 
the  midst  of  this  upheaval  there  was 
little  chance  for  the  protagonists  of 
ideahsm  and  their  costly  department. 

•  Ford  and  Crowther,  My  Life  and  Work, 
p.  130. 


By  December,  1920,  only  about  a 
dozen  men  were  left  in  the  Educa- 
tional Department.  Soon  after  the 
Department  ceased  to  exist  as  an 
independent  unit,  the  handful  of 
remaining  workers  having  been  incor- 
porated in  the  Medical  Department. 

There  was  no  way  of  rooting  out  the 
Educational  Department  completely. 
It  had  on  hand  between  thirty  and 
fifty  children  who  stiU  needed  medical 
attention,  and  it  was  necessary  to  re- 
tain one  or  two  men  to  look  after  them. 
There  was  need  of  a  man  to  attend  to 
injured  employees  and  one  for  look-up 
work.  "When  you  sift  it  down, "  said 
Dr.  Marquis  to  the  writer,  "what  was 
left  was  what  had  to  be  done,  and  what 
any  hard  boiled  company  would  do 
anyhow." 

Approximately  seven  years  passed 
by  from  the  time  the  profit  sharing 
plan  was  trumpeted  to  the  world 
to  the  time  of  the  scrapping  of  the 
old  Educational  Department.  What 
has  been  the  importance  of  this 
experience?  Shall  it  be  considered  a 
great  experiment  in  industrial  govern- 
ment gone  to  ruin,  or  at  any  rate,  lost 
to  the  world?  The  facts  do  not  justify 
such  a  conclusion. 

Not  only  did  the  scheme  fail  to  im- 
press others;  Ford  himself  repudiated 
it  in  all  its  essentials  despite  the 
phenomenal  growth  of  his  business  and 
his  colossal  profits.  The  profit  sharing 
proper  may  be  said  to  have  gone  by 
default  when  the  company  allowed  the 
rising  prices  to  chew  away  at  the 
profits  until  nothing  was  left  of 
them.  The  final  blow  came  when  a 
six  doUar  minimum,  still  under  the 
mask  of  profits,  replaced  the  original 
scheme.     And    the    sociological    fea- 


170 


Levin:  End  of  Ford  Profit  Sharing 


tures  fared  no  better.  If  not  a  cause 
of  regret,  they  have  brought  excuses 
and  extenuations. 

The  adjustment  of  relations  between 
employers  and  employees  cannot  be 
settled  by  a  mere  impulse  to  be  gen- 
erous. To  bestow  temporarily  on 
labor  the  excessive  pecuniary  benefits 
of  an  inordinate  flow  of  profits  may  do 


as  an  individual  caprice  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  period  of  time.  It  means  lit- 
tle or  nothing  as  a  solution,  for  the 
reason  that  it  butts  up  against  an 
implacable  wall  of  economic  facts 
which  forbid  the  great  majority  of 
business  enterprises  to  pay  more  than 
the  normal  wage  rates. 

(Manuscript  received   May  31,  1927.) 


Causes  for  Disc 

By  John  M.  Brewer,  Harval 

The  statistics  here  compiled  confirm  the  assertion  sometimes 
made  that  nearly  twice  as  many  employees  are  discharged  for 
moral  shortcomings,  or  defects  of  character,  as  for  lack  of  ability 
to  do  the  work. 


THE  issue  of  the  Journal  for 
December,  1926,  published  an 
article  bearing  on  the  causes 
for  discharge.'  Though  no  actual 
data  detailing  the  causes  for  discharge 
were  given,  the  importance  of  investi- 
gations of  this  nature  was  clearly 
pointed  out. 

It  happens  that  the  Bureau  of  Vo- 
cational Guidance  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity somattime  ago  put  together  some 
statistia^lSl  data  published  in  various 
souQijI^  gi'V'ing  the  actually  recorded 
reasons  for  discharges  from  industrial 
establishments  in  4375  cases.^  The 
figures  were  classified  by  us  under  two 
main  headings :  Lack  of  Skill  or  Tech- 
nical Knowledge,  and  Lack  of  Social 
Understanding,  and  arc  shown  in 
table  1. 

In    our   tabulation    we    have 


con- 


1  "Why  Employees  Leave:  Company 
Records  and  Analysis  of  Causes  of  Exits." 
By  Lloyd  R.  Miller,  Metropolitan  Life  In- 
surance Company.  Journal  of  Personnel 
Research,  December,  1926,  page  298. 

-  Data  based  on  statistics  from  Bulletin 
No.  46,  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Edu- 
cation, Employment  Management  Series, 
No.  6;  and  "The  Turnover  of  Factory  La- 
bor," by  S.  H.  Slichter  (D.  Appleton  and 
Company,  1919),  p.  184. 


sidered  ''skill"  to  be  the  actual  doing 
of  the  work.  "Technical  knowledge" 
is  the  science  back  of  the  work — the 
how — represented  usually  in  indus- 
trial establishments  by  computations, 
use  of  blueprints,  and  applications  of 
laws  of  physics  and  chemistry.  By 
"social  understanding"  we  mean  hu- 
man relationships  or  job  wisdom: 
those  qualities  of  character  which  or- 
dinarily go  deeper  than  skill  or  techni- 
cal knowledge. 

Our  table  shows  clearly  that  while 
incompetence  is  the  largest  single 
cause,  yet  all  causes  that  could  possibly 
be  classified  as  skill  and  technical 
knowledge  together  total  slightly  over 
one-third,  while  the  social  understand- 
ing causes  constitute  the  controlling 
reasons  in  about  five-eighths  of  the 
cases^ 

It  seems  to  be  a  very  common  fail- 
ing on  the  part  of  workers  in  vocational 
education  to  attribute  too  much  gen- 
eral spread  or  transfer  to  these 
qualities  listed  under  social  under- 
standing. A  person  is  supposed  to 
have  qualities  of  character  which  he 
can  apply  to  almost  any  situation. 
But  it  may  very  well  turn  out  that  the 
carefulness  or  the  patience  of  a  street 


171 


THB  PERSONNEL  JOURNAX,  VOL.   VI,  NO.  3 


172 


Brewer:  Causes  for  Discharge 


car  motorman  is  quite  different  from 
the  carefulness  or  patience  of  a  street 
car  conductor-^i^iequestion  is  at 
least  worth  rai^^^J^thcr  "job  wis- 
dom" should  not  i^Wl^ght  in  a  situa- 
tion closely  resembling^B^B|l  job. 
Psychological  principles  see^To  favor 
the  notion  of  close  association  of  ideas 
and  to  disfavor  the  notion  of  depending 
upon  transfer. 


shall  we  say  of  an  analogous  plan  in  a 
professional  school,  such  as  law  or 
dentistry,  where  the  human  factor  is 
no  doubt  even  more  important? 

The  facts  have  importance  for  voca- 
tional guidance  also.  They  indicate 
that  exploratory  courses  should  place 
children  in  situations  where  these 
quaUties  of  character  will  be  called 
into  activity,  and  that  classes  in  occu.- 


TABLE  1 
Reasons  for  discharge  from  industrial  establishments 


Lack  of  Skill  or  Technical  Knowledge: 

Incompetence 

Slow 

Physically  unadapted 

Spoiling  work 

Lack  of  Social  Understanding: 

Insubordination 

'^'General  unreliability 

Absenteeism 

Laziness 

Trouble  making 

Drinking 

Violation  of  rules  

Carelessness 

Fighting 

Misconduct 

Dishonesty 

Loafing  or  sleeping 

Dissatisfied 

Habitual  lateness 

Unclassified 


NUMBER  OF  CASES 

PER  CENTS 

1,110 

25.3 

200 

4.6 

170 

3.9 

16 

1,496 

0.4 

34.2 

486 

11.1 

453 

10.4 

442 

10.1 

317 

7.2 

179 

4.^ 

k 

179 

4.1 

^ 

142 

3.2 

120 

2.7 

104 

2.4 

100 

2.3 

91 

2.1 

77 

1.8 

33 

0.5 

17 

2,730 

0.4 

62.4 

149 

3.4 

The  importance  of  these  facts  for 
vocational  education  are  patent. 
What  shall  we  say  of  an  industrial 
school  which  gives  50  per  cent  of  the 
students'  time  to  developing  skills, 
30  per  cent  to  classes  in  mathematics, 
drawing,  and  science,  and  20  per  cent 
to  general  studies  such  as  Jmglish, 
civics,  hygiene,  etc.?  If  these  schools 
are  neglecting  an  opportunity,  what 


pations  should  then  carry  on  a  correla- 
tive discussion  of  problems  relating  to 
job  wisdom. 

For  personnel  men  these  facts  indi- 
cate the  importance  of  shop  morale  and 
of  the  development  of  character  quali- 
ties through  employee  activities  and 
employee  leadership. 

(Manuscript  received  March  21,  1927.) 


The  Machinist  ADDTOiince 


9Wrce 


iim  Wsts 


I.   Recruiting,  a 

By  Wm.  H.  Woodruff,  Ingersoll-Rand  Company 

This   is  the  first  of  three  articles  on  problems  of  apprentice 
training  under  present  conditions  of  factory  operation. 

The  author  states  the  continuing  need  for  machinist  apprentices, 
computes  the  cost  of  training,  and  contends  that  the  problem  of  re- 
cruiting is  best  solved  by  providing  a  genuinely  adequate  training. 


NOW  that  the  machine  has 
absorbed  the  skill  of  the  old- 
time  mechanic,  so  that  a  la- 
borer with  a  C—  or  D  mentahty  can 
start,  feed  and  stop  the  automaton  de- 
vised to  do  the  difficult  mechanical 
job,  some  people  have  the  impression 
that  high-grade  skilled  machinists  are 
no  l(^^Wr  necessary. 

Til^fallacy  of  this  is  evident  when 
'v^djllpink  of  the  men  who  must  keep 
these  compUcated  automatic  machines 
in  repair,  the  men  who  make  (to  a 
large  extent  at  the  bench  and  by  hand) 
the  cutting  tools  and  other  special  ap- 
pUances  for  these  machines,  and  the 
staff  men  who  in  any  large  machine 
shop  keep  the  quahty  and  quantity  of 
production  up  to  standard — inspec- 
tors, time  study  men,  tool  designers, 
assemblers,  service  men,  etc.  In 
training,  most  of  these  auxihary  men 
must  be  both  skilled  machinists  and 
competent  technicians. 

This  means  that  the  machine-build- 
ing industry  needs  large  numbers  of 
high-grade  machinist-technicians,  and 
the  leading  companies  are  all  doing 


something  definite  toward  training 
such  men.  Westinghouse,  General 
Electric,  General  Motors,  Ingersoll- 
Rand  and  Newport  News  Shipbuilding 
are  among  the  leaders  in  this  new 
development. 

One  large  corporation  uses  the  fol- 
lowing method  to  determine  the  num- 
ber of  apprentices  who  should  be  in 
training  in  any  given  plant.  The 
average  employee's  working  life  is 
thirty  years.  This  means  that  we  lose 
one-thirtieth  or  3|  per  cent  of  our 
skilled  force  each  year.  Assuming  that 
it  takes  four  years  to  train  a  mechanic, 
the  number  of  apprentices  in  training 
should  equal  4  times  3|  per  cent  or  13f 
per  cent,  of  the  number  of  the  skilled 
mechanics  whom  these  apprentices  will 
gradually  replace.  A  plant  employ- 
ing 3000  persons,  one-third  of  whom 
are  rated  as  skilled,  should  have  133 
apprentices.  And  this  assumes,  that 
the  plant  does  not  grow,  nor  increase 
its  working  force. 

The  operation  of  a  training  program 
to  meet  the  needs  outUned  above 
raises  two  major  questions.     One  has 


173 


174 


Woodruff:  The  Machinist  Apprentice 


to  do  with  the  recruiting  of  young  men 
quaUfied  to  take  the  training  and  fi- 
nally graduate  into^keiieeded  machin- 
ist-technicians. ^^^^iHw^d  i^  ^^  ^^ 
the  expense  to  whiclr^Bfirm  is  put  in 
operating  such  a  progr^B|yh|  us 
look  at  these  in  reverse  oroer. 

EXPENSE 

The  cost  of  graduating  one  appren- 
tice machinist,  assuming  a  four-year 
course  of  training,  is  found  to  be  about 
§1000. 

To    graduate   one   apprentice,   two 


a  production  expense,  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  green  hand  naturally  does  not 
turn  out  a  normal  output  of  work,  with 
a  consequent  loss  of  production.  But 
the  apprentice  earns  his  wages,  the  loss 
of  production  during  the  first  two  years 
being  about  balanced  by  an  excess  of 
production  over  wages  during  the  last 
two  years. 

For  the  two-year  drop  out ,  of  course, 
there  is  a  production  loss.  A  fairly 
conservative  estimate  of  this  loss  can 
be  made  by  taking  half  the  wages  paid 
during  the  first  six  months  (26  weeks 


TABLE  1 

ITEU 

OR.VDU.VTE 

NON-GRADUATE 

TOTAL.S 

Wages  while  in  Classroom 

•sioo.oo 

40.00 

250. 00 

.50.00 

30.00 

80.00 
100.00 

S  50.00 
20.00 

125.00 
25.00 
15.00 

130.00 

$150.00 

Technical  Instructors  (part  time)     

60.00 

Supervision — Personnel  Department 

375.00 

Supplies — Classroom  and  Shop 

75.00 

Miscellaneous  and  Special 

Unbalanced  Production  Loss     

45.00 
130.00 

Tools  loaned — finally  given 

Bonus  at  end  of  apprenticeship 

80.00 
^.00 

Totals 

$650.00 

$36.5.00 

$1.01^aJ|. 

boys  should  be  started.  One  of  them 
will  ordinarily  quit  or  be  dropped 
sometime  during  the  first  two  years. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  costs.  The 
major  one  is  the  cost  of  instruction  in 
shop  and  classroom  during  the  training 
period.  The  other  consists  of  the 
money  bonus  and  tools  given  at  com- 
pletion of  apprenticeship. 

For  the  apprentice  who  does  not 
graduate  there  is,  of  course,  no  com- 
pletion cost.  And  as  he  is  in  the 
course  only  two  years  or  less  (instead 
of  four)  the  instruction  cost  may  be 
figured  as  half  that  of  the  graduate. 

One  would  think  that  there  would  be 


of  fifty  hours  each,  or  1300  hours). 
This  equals  $130.00. 

Expense  details  for  four  years,  to 
graduate  one  apprentice,  are  estimated 
as  shown  in  table  1.  Hence,  the  total 
expense,  to  produce  one  machinist,  is 
about  -SI 000. 00. 

RECRUITING 

"How  are  we  going  to  get  the 
boys?"  "You  can't  have  a  dairy 
farm  unless  you  have  cows,  and  how 
can  you  have  apprenticeship  if  you 
don't  have  boys?"  To  the  skeptic  on 
this  kind  of  training  the  matter  of  se- 
curing the  right  type  of  boy  is  the  real 


AA'oodruff:  The  Machinist  Apprentice 


175 


problem.  In  fact,  a  number  of  well- 
intentioned  plans  have  failed  solely 
because  "the  boys"  did  not  ma- 
terialize. 

In  laying  out  a  program  of  training 
which  will  meet  this  difficult j'^  there  are 
two  guiding  principles.  (1)  Plan  the 
training  program  so  that  it  will  include 
all  the  skill  and  knowledge — both 
technical  and  mechanical — which  you 
want  your  graduate  to  possess;  aim 
consciously  to  produce  the  kind  of 
mechanic  that  will  definitely  meet 
your  needs.  (2)  Arrange  your  set-up 
in  such  a  way  that  the  whole  proposi- 
tion will  appeal  to  the  boy  while  he  is 
in  training.  This  means  doing  every- 
thing for  him  that  you  promise  to 
do,  and  a  Uttle  more.  Your  present 
trainee  and  his  parents  are  the  best,  or 
worst,  advertisement  for  your  training 
program  throughout  the  local  com- 
munity. 

It  costs  about  $1000.00  to  put  one 
boy  through  a  well  organized  up-to- 
date  apprenticeship.  It  goes  without 
saying,  then,  that  the  boy  should  be 
carefully  selected.  I'rom  the  writer's 
experience,  don't  be  afraid  to  go  very 
slowly  at  first.  Be  content  with  two 
or  three  to  start  with,  and  take  only 
first  class  boys,  with  whom  you  are 
reasonably  well  satisfied. 

Suggested  minimum  requirements 
are :  common  school  education,  sixteen 
to  eighteen  years  of  age,  sound  phy- 
sique, good  general  health,  and  high 
moral  character.  Potential  technical 
ability  can  be  gauged  by  a  suitable 
arithmetic  test,  and  mechanical  ability 
by  tests  of  the  Stenquist,  O'Connor  or 


MacQuarrie  type.  Some  of  these 
tests  also  give  a  good  indication  of 
general  inteUigence. 

The  training,  program  should  be 
kept  as  simple  and  flexible  as  possible 
at  first,  -•^''ew  features  should  be 
added  slowly,  trying  out  each  proposed 
idea  before  definitely  making  it  part 
of  the  permanent  plan.  All  successful 
apprenticeship  programs  have  grown 
this  way  and  therefore  differ  in  details. 
Different  local  conditions,  both  inside 
and  outside  the  plant,  call  for  varying 
methods. 

"How  are  we  going  to  get  the 
boys?"  If  a  thorough  mechanical  and 
technical  training,  fairly  administered, 
is  offered  in  any  average  American 
community,  it  cannot  fail  to  attract 
the  right  kind  of  boj',  in  increasing 
numbers.  Unquestionably,  the  boys 
ivill  come. 

Our  own  experience  bears  this  out. 
In  1922  we  had  only  twelve  appren- 
tices, none  with  more  than  an  eighth 
grade  education.  Through  1923-24 
the  number  ran  from  thirty  to  forty, 
the  majority  having  had  one  to  three 
years  of  high  school.  The  apprentice 
body  has  since  increased  to  over  sev- 
enty, of  whom  twenty  are  high  school 
graduates.  Occasionally  a  boy  signs 
up  who  has  had  a  term  at  normal 
school  or  college. 

During  the  present  month  of  June, 
1927,  the  entire  entering  class,  ten  in 
all,  are  graduates  of  the  local  high 
schools.  All  were  enrolled  for  appren- 
ticeship from  one  to  three  months 
ahead  of  graduation. 

(Manuscript  received  June  27,  1927.) 


Qualifications  for  Dentistry 

A  Preliminary  Study 

By  Anna  M,  Roe  and  Charles  F.  Brown,   University  of  Denver 

Can  we  have  more  dentists  with  fine,  sure  skill  of  hand,  a 
mastery  of  the  requisite  professional  knowledge,  and  an  integrity 
which  never  permits  a  sacrifice  of  the  patient's  ultimate  well- 
being  to  the  pressure  of  the  dentist's  immediate  interest? 
An  attempt  ivas  made  several  years  ago  to  develop  predictive  tests 
of  manual  skill  in  dental  students,  but  so  far  as  is  known  the 
validation  of  these  tests  was  never  completed.  The  study  here  re- 
ported analyzes  the  possible  significance  of  certain  other  tests  in 
predicting  success  in  dental  training. 

Fifty  seniors  and  thirty  freshmen  in  a  dental  school  were  studied  as  to 
age,  average  grades,  and  test  performance  in  Army  Alpha  and  in  the 
Downey  Will-temperament  tests.  The  seniors  were  also  rated  by  their 
instructors  as  to  probable  success  in  dentistry. 

Intelligence  score  correlated  about  +.40  with  grades,  and  +.26  with 
estimated  probable  success  of  seniors.  The  Will-temperament  tests, 
grouped,  correlated  significantly  with  grades  of  freshmen  but  not  with 
grades  or  estimated  success  of  seniors.  The  correlation  of  grades  with 
estimates  was  +.78. 

IT  IS  obvious  to  anyone  familiar  Results   of   Army   investigations    (1) 

with  the  problem  of  dental  edu-  suggest  that  intelligence  is   not  the 

cation  that  some  objective  means  all-important  factor  in  the  matter,  and 

of  predicting  the  probable  success  of  so    the    Downey    WiU-Temperament 

an  appUcant  for  training  would  be  of  Test  (4)  was  chosen  to  measure  per- 

invaluable  aid.     It  would  eliminate  to  sonality  factors   (5)   and  supplement 

a  large  extent  the  waste  involved  in  the  well-known  Army  Alpha.    With 

faihng  students  after  one  or  more  years  the   exception   of  the   Army  reports 

of  training.     The  success  already  ob-  (1,2),  no  results  of  tests  of  dentists  or 

tained  in  Liberal  Arts  colleges  with  dental  students   are   available.    The 

such  entrance  qualifications  suggests  Army  investigations  disclosed  surpris- 

that   some   series  of  tests    could  be  ingly  low  scores  for  all  medical  officers 

devised  for  the  purpose.     With  this  of  all  groups,  although  the  dentists 

eventual  result  in  view,  an  investiga-  stood  higher  than  the  physicians  and 

tion  was  undertaken  to  determine  the  surgeons  (3). 

availability  of  certain  existing  tests.         The  Downey  and  Army  Alpha  Testa 

176 


Roe  and  Brown:  Qualifications  for  Dentistry  177 


were  given  to  50  seniors  and  to  30 
freshmen  at  the  University  of  Denver 
Dental  School.  Some  objective  meas- 
ure for  probable  success  in  dentistry- 
was  needed,  so  an  average  of  term 
grades  was  made,  and  taken  as  a  cri- 
terion. Because  of  the  obvious  inac- 
curacy of  these  as  a  measure  for  pro- 


be considered  alone,  but  the  "highest 
ideals  of  the  dental  profession"  was  to 
be  the  criterion.  No  attempt  was 
made  to  define  this.  These  rankings 
were  recorded  and  the  position  of  each 
man  computed.  From  the  data  so 
obtained,  we  may  attempt  to  answer 
the  following  questions: 


TABLE  1 


Age 

Grade 

Army  Alpha 

Downey  Will-Temperament  Tests: 

Speed  of  Movement 

Freedom  from  Load 

Flexibility 

Speed  of  Decision 

Motor  Impulsion 

Self-confidence 

Non-compliance 

Finality  Judgment 

Motor  Inhibition 

Interest  in  Detail 

Coordination 

Perseveration 

Group  1 

Group  2 

Group  3  (not  including  volitional 
perseveration) 


SENIOR 

FBESHMAN 

DIFF.  IN 
AVER. 

<^D 

Aver. 

Sigma 

Aver. 

Sigma 

27.56 

4.1 

21.46 

2.82 

6.10 

0  77 

83.82 

5.4 

80.6 

5.34 

3.22 

1.23 

112.85 

27.15 

123.62 

22.95 

10.77 

5.67 

4.46 

2.52 

3.9 

2.41 

0.56 

0.55 

5.2 

3.04 

5.23 

3.44 

0.03 

0.75 

4.6 

1.57 

5.0 

1.21 

0.4 

0.31 

6.12 

2.58 

4.93 

2.14 

1.19 

0.53 

5.1 

1.67 

5.03 

1 .55 

0.07 

0.36 

3.24 

2.93 

3.96 

2.88 

0.72 

0.66 

6.96 

3.23 

5.7 

3.21 

1.26 

0.48 

6.08 

3.31 

6.4 

3  27 

0.32 

0.73 

2.4 

1.68 

2.87 

1.96 

0.47 

0.42 

6.88 

2.25 

6.16 

1.89 

0.72 

0.46 

4  3 

2.58 

2.53 

2.07 

1.77 

0.51 

6.92 

3.24 

5.06 

3.34 

1.86 

0.76 

20.48 

6.57 

16.83 

5.73 

3.65 

1.38 

20.98 

5.61 

18.0 

5.82 

2.98 

1.32 

14.3 

4.41 

11.67 

5.36 

2.63 

1.15 

7.91 
2.61 
1.89 


1.01 
0.04 
1.28 
2.24 

0.19 
1.09 
2.62 
0.43 

1.11 
1.56 
3.47 
2.44 

2.64 

2.25 

2.28 


fessional  success,  a  further  measure 
was  obtained  for  the  seniors.  Four 
faculty  members  who  had  supervised 
the  men  in  clinical  work  were  asked  to 
rate  them  as  to  their  probable  success 
in  dentistry.  Directions  stated  that 
probable  financial  success  was  not  to 


What  is  the  average  age  and  the  age 
range  for  these  dental  students? 

Is  there  any  correlation  between  age 
and  successful  dentistry  as  measured 
by  both  grades  and  rank? 

What  is  the  average  intelligence  and 
range  of  intelligence  of  these  dental 
students,  as  measured  by  the  Army 
Alpha  test? 


178  Roe  and  Brown:  Qualifications  for  Dentistry 


4.  How  important  a  factor  is  intelligence 

in  determining  grade  and  rank? 

5.  Are  any  of  the  twelve  traits  measured 

by  the  Downey  test  of  specific  impor- 
tance in  dentistry? 

6.  Are  any  of  the  three  groups  of  Downey 

tests   important   as   a   group,    from 
grade  and  rank  correlations? 

7.  IIow  do  the  average  grades  compare 

with  the  ranking? 
S.  What  outstanding  features  do  we  find 

in  students  ranking  1,  2,  25,  26,  49, 

50? 
9.  ^\'hat  line  of  investigation  in  this  field 

seems  most  profitable  for  the  future? 

Table  1  gives  averages  and  standard 
deviations  for  both  groups  for  age, 
Army  Alpha  total  scores,  scores  on  the 
separate  Downey  tests  and  scores  of 


coordination  of  impulses  and  volitional 
perseveration,  the  senior  average  is 
greater  than  the  freshman  by  more 
than  one.  In  no  case  is  the  reverse 
true.  The  largest  deviations  for  both 
groups  occur  in  tests,  2,  6,  7,  8,  and  12. 
If,  as  may  reasonably  be  assumed,  the 
seniors  are  a  more  highly  selected 
group,  this  may  be  slightly  indicative. 
The  senior  age  average  is  6.1  years 
above  the  freshman,  and  the  grades 
average  3.2  higher.  However,  we  find 
the  senior  average  10.77  less  than  the 
freshman  on  the  Army  Alpha  scores. 
This  is  largely  explained  by  the  fact 
that  in  the  last  two  years,  entrance  re- 
quirements   have    been    made    more 


TABLE  2 
Correlations  with  average  grade 


DOWNEY  WILIrTEMPERAMENT  TESTS' 

AGE 

.*.LPHA 

Group  1 

Group  2 

Group  3 

Senior 

+  .17 
+  .38 

+  .085 
+  .37 

+  .096 

+  .27 

-.209 
+  .479 

+  .41 
+  .398 

+  .78 

Freshman 

the  three  gi-oups  (4,  5).  Group  1, 
called  by  Miss  Dowme}'-,  speed  and 
fluidity  of  reaction,  comprises  the  first 
four  tests:  speed  of  movement,  free- 
dom from  load,  flexibility,  and  speed 
of  decision.  Group  2,  forcefulness  and 
decisiveness  of  reaction  includes  tests 
of  motor  impulsion,  self-confidence, 
non-compliance  and  finality  of  judg- 
ment. Miss  Downey  includes  the  last 
four  in  group  3,  but  because  of  the 
questionability  of  the  last  test,  voli- 
tional perseveration,  it  was  omitted 
and  only  motor  inhibition,  interest  in 
detail  and  coordination  of  impulses 
included  for  carefulness  of  reaction. 
In  speed  of  decision,  non-compliance. 


rigid.  But  these  averages  are  of  fur- 
ther interest  when  it  is  remembered 
that  the  norm  for  freshman  college 
students  is  129  and  for  seniors  144. 
The  last  column  shows  the  significance 
of  these  differences,  only  those  for  age 
and  coordination  being  reliable. 

Table  2  gives  freshman  and  senior 
correlations  between  group  1,  group  2, 
group  3,  age.  Army  Alpha,  rank  and 
the  average  grades  obtained.  Table 
3  shows  the  same  correlations  for 
seniors  with  ranks  used  in  place  of 
grades.  In  table  2  we  find  freshman 
correlations  consistently  higher  than 
senior  except  with  the  Army  Alpha 
where  the  difference  is  slight.     The 


Roe  and  Brown:  Qualifications  for  Dentistry         179 


negative  senior  correlations  with  age, 
and  positive  freshman  correlations 
with  age  are  difficult  to  interpret. 
About  all  that  can  be  concluded  is  that 
the  differences  are  largely  due  to  the 
great  differences  in  composition  of 
courses.  This  is  further  born  out  in 
table  3  where  all  correlations  with  the 
Downey  tests  are  less  than  -f.l5  and 
the  first  two  are  negative.  The  age 
correlation  is  positive  here  but  insig- 
nificantly small.  The  Army  Alpha 
correlation  is  only  +.264  as  compared 
with  that  with  grades  of  +.41.  Evi- 
dently the  faculty  consider  intelhgence 


speed  of  movement;  +.446  flexibihty; 
+  .31  motor  impulsion ;  +.36  finahtyof 
judgment;  and  +.302  coordination  of 
impulses. 

In  figure  1  are  presented  Downey 
profiles  of  six  seniors — numbers  1,  2, 
25,  26,  49,  and  50  on  the  ranks.  Be- 
neath are  recorded  age,  grade,  and  in- 
telhgence score  for  each.  It  will  be 
noted  that  age  of  all  six  is  about  the 
same;  grades  are  in  keeping  with  their 
intelhgence  scores;  but  No.  50  who 
ranked  lowest  in  "probable  success  as 
a  dentist"  is  42  points  higher  than 
No.  1  in  Army  Alpha  score;  No.  26 


TABLE  3 
Correlations  with  rank  (Seniors  only) 


GROUP  1 

GROUP  2 

GRorp  3 

AGE 

ARMY  ALPHA 

GRADES 

-.128 

-.119 

-f  .123 

+  .166 

+  .264 

+  .78 

TABLE  4 
Correlations  of  grades  mith  Downey  Tests 

Senior 

Freshmen . 


TE.ST  1     TEST  2     TESTS    TEST  4   TEBT  5   TEST  6     TEST  7     TESTS    TEST  9  TEST  10  TEST  11  TEST  12 


+  .009 
+  .67 


+  .012 
+  .061 


+  .101 
+  .446 


+  .31 
-.076 


-.03 
+  .31 


+  .015 
+  .18 


-.004 
-.064 


+  .069 
+  .36 


+  .156 
-.061 


+.19 
+.22 


-.23      -.074 
+  .302    -.135 


(as  measured  by  the  Army  Alpha)  of 
even  less  relative  importance  in  profes- 
sional work  than  in  the  school  work. 
It  is  interesting  to  note,  also,  that 
grade  and  rank  correlate  +.78,  which 
is  about  what  would  be  expected. 

Table  4  shows  correlations  between 
each  of  the  Downey  tests  and  grades 
for  both  groups.  For  the  most  part 
they  are  of  slight  significance,  the 
freshmen  being  consistently  higher  ex- 
cept in  tests  four  and  nine.  However 
we  note  for  the  seniors  +.31  for  speed  of 
decision,  the  highest  senior  correlation. 
In  the  fresh  man  group  we  find  +.67  for 


is  1  point  less  than  No.  50;  No.  49  is  7 
more  than  No.  1;  No.  25  equals  No.  1, 
and  No.  2  is  5  less  than  No.  1.  Their 
profiles  also  show  Nos.  49  and  50,  25 
and  26  all  superior  to  1  and  2,  the 
ranking  men,  in  many  points. 

We  can  now  endeavor  to  answer  the 
questions  asked  at  first. 

1.  The  dental  seniors'  average  age 
is  27.56,  ranging  from  20  to  37,  with  a 
(J  of  4.1.  The  freshman  average  is 
21.42,  range  17  to  32,  a  2.82. 

2.  Apparently  the  age  of  seniors  is 
comparatively  unimportant,  the  co- 
efficient   of    correlation    "v\nth    grades 


180  Roe  and  Brown:  Qualifications  for  Dentistry 


being  —.204  and  with  rank  +.1GG. 
However  the  freshman  correlation  of 
+.476  of  age  with  grades  indicates  a 
tendency  for  the  older  men  to  have  a 


ranging  from  01  to  180  for  freshmen — 
obviously  a  more  selected  group  as 
regards  intelligence. 

4.  Intelligence  seems  fairly  impor- 


25 


50 


Age     29 
(Jrade     93 
Aray  Alpha 


100 


Age 

32 

Age 

31 

Grade 

84 

Grade 

75 

Army  Alpha 

100 

Army  Alpha 

142 

26 


49 


A«« 

32 

Age                  30 

Age 

32 

Grade 

91 

Grade               86 

Grade 

75 

Aray  Alpha 

91 

Amy  Alpha  141 

Aray  Alpha 

107 

Tig.  1.  Will-temperament  Profiles  of  Six  Dental  Seniors — the  Two   Highest, 
THE  Two  Lowest  and  the  Two  in  the  Middle  Rank  in  Estimated  Probable 

Success 

The  two  seniors  who  rank  highest  differ  from  the  two  who  rank  lowest  by  being  su- 
perior in  Freedom  frora  Load  and  in  Coordination  of  Impulses,  and  inferior  in  Speed 
of  Movement,  Flexibility,  Self-confidence,  Interest  in  Detail,  and  Volitional  Perseveration. 

better  chance  to  handle  the  work  in     tant  in  acquiring  high  grades,  correla- 


the  first  year. 

3.  These  data  show  intelligence  rat- 
ings on  Army  Alpha  of  112.85  (a  27.15) 
ranging  from  33  to  153  for  seniors;  and 
freshmen    average    123.02    (a    22.95) 


tions  of  intelUgence  with  grades  being 
+  .41  for  seniors,  and  +.398  for  fresh- 
men. The  correlation  of  intelligence 
with  rank  is  lower,  +.204. 

5.  In  comparing  the  twelve   traits 


Roe  and  Brown:  Qualifications  for  Dentistry  181 


measured  by  the  Downey  tests  with 
the  senior  ratings  we  must  conclude 
that  with  the  possible  exception  of 
speed  of  decision,  these  traits  are  not 
of  any  specific  importance. 

6.  The  same  thing  holds  true  when 
each  of  the  three  groups  of  traits  are 
compared  with  ratings  of  the  seniors. 

7.  The  correlation  between  grades 
and  rank  is  +.78,  ndicating  possibly 
the  great  importance  of  successful 
professional  training. 

8.  Apparently  we  can  draw  no  defi- 
nite conclusions  from  these  Downey 
profiles  of  students. 


9.  This  investigation  has  yielded 
little  but  negative  results,  but  these 
are  of  value  in  clearing  the  field  for 
further  work.  It  ehminates  certain 
types  of  test. 

Questionnaires  have  been  sent  to  25 
leading  dentists  in  an  endeavor  to 
arrive  at  a  practical  and  satisfactory 
job  analysis  of  dentistry.  When  the 
returns  have  been  analyzed  and  com- 
bined, an  attempt  will  be  made  at  the 
construction  of  tests  for  the  character- 
istics needed.  Results  already  re- 
ceived suggest  a  wide  field  of  mental, 
social  and  physical  traits  to  be  ana- 
lyzed and  measured. 


REFERENCES 


(1)  YoAKTJM,  C.  S.,  AND  Yerkes,  R.  M.: 

Army    Mental    Tests.     New    York, 
1920. 

(2)  Yerkes,   R.  M.,  ed.:  Memoirs  of  the 

National  Academy  of  Sciences,  vol. 
XV,  Washington,  1921. 

(3)  PiLLSBURY,   W.   B.:  Education  as  the 

Psychologist    Sees    It.     New   York, 
1925. 


(4)  Downey,  June  E.:  The  Will-Tempera- 

ment and  Its  Testing.  New  York, 
1923. 

(5)  Del  Manzo,  M.  C,  and  Ruch,  G.  M.: 

The  Downey  Will-Temperament 
Group  Test:  A  further  analysis  of  its 
reliability  and  validity.  Jour.  Ap- 
plied Psychol.,  1923,  vol.  7,  65-76. 


Testing  and  Training  the   Inferior  or 
Doubtful  Freshman 

By  Edward  S.  Jones,  University  of  Buffalo 


IN  THE  effort  to  raise  the  standard 
of  scholastic  achievement  in  their 
colleges,  administrators  have 
been  almost  exclusively  interested  in 
the  elimination  of  those  of  low  intelh- 
gence  or  of  inferior  previous  high  school 
standing.  Thej^  have  not  experi- 
mented, generallj',  in  improving  the 
scholarship  of  those  whose  records 
indicate  that  they  are  naturally  weak 
students.  This  paper  describes  one 
such  experiment .  It  proposes  to  show 
that  a  great  deal  can  be  done  for  the 
"poor  risks"  from  our  high  schools 
who  attempt  to  enter  college. 

It  has  been  widely  observed  that 
those  students  from  the  lower  third  or 
two-fifths'    of    their    respective    high 

1  For  two  years,  we  had  been  discour- 
aging or  excluding  manj'  of  those  from  the 
lowest  two-fifths  of  their  high  school  classes. 
We  have  since  discovered  that  the  size  of 
the  city  should  have  been  taken  into  ac- 
count, as  the  rural  and  small  city  communi- 
ties have  generally  sent  us  an  inferior  prod- 
uct as  compared  to  the  large  cit}^  high 
schools.  The  following  table  shows  this 
significantly.  Quartile  points  of  average 
marks  for  graduates  from  the  middle  fifth 
of  their  respective  high  schools,  where  A  is 
1,  B  is 2,  etc.,  with  Fas 6; 


Q(3) 


Small  hiii;h  echools. . . . 
Medium  high  bcIiouIb  ■ 
Large  city  high  schools 


NUM- 
BER 
OF 

CASES 

Q(l) 

ME- 
DIAN 

21 

15 
30 

5.0 
4  2 
3.6 

3.7 
4.0 
3.3 

3.5 
3.7 
2.9 


school  classes  are  poor  material. 
Koughl3%  we  have  found  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  BufTalo  that  only  one  out  of 
six  from  the  lowest  fifth  of  hit-  high 
school  class  can  maintain  anywhere 
near  a  "C"  average,  and  only  one  out 
of  four  from  the  second  fifth  is  equally 
efficient.  In  fact,  in  our  institution 
the  high  school  standing  of  a  student 
is  a  better  index  of  his  college  worth 
than  any  intelligence  test, — and  we 
have  used  several.  This  is  mainly  no 
doubt  on  account  of  the  large  percent- 
age of  children  of  immigrants  in  this 
urban  university  (approximately  50 
per  cent).  These  students  are  con- 
spicuously low  in  the  ordinarj'  culture 
tests  as  compared  to  their  scholastic 
capacities. 

The  question  we  raised  was  this :  "  Is 
it  possible  to  take  30  or  40  students 
who  have  come  from  the  lowest  two- 
fifths  of  their  high  school  group,  to 
eliminate  a  few  at  the  low  end  of  the 
scale  and  to  motivate  the  others? 
Can  this  be  done  in  a  period  of  three 
and  a  half  weeks,  on  an  extra  tuition 
basis  before  they  enter  college  in  the 
Fall,  so  as  to  fit  them  for  competition 

Because  of  this  significant  difference  be- 
tween the  scholastic  accomplishment  of 
large  city  and  other  high  school  products, 
we  have  decided  to  extend  our  experiment 
next  year  to  cover  the  middle-fifth  students 
from  the  smaller  high  schools. 


182 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


183 


with  other  college  students?"  Our 
answer  is  now,  that  it  can  be  done. 

We  began  the  experiment  in  August 
1926,  with  a  group  of  37  prospective 
Freshmen,  all  of  whom  came  from  the 
lowest  two-fifths  of  their  high  school 
classes.  During  the  first  week  they 
were  put  through  twenty  hours  of 
psychological  testing.  Five  of  the 
least  promising  candidates  were  then 
eliminated.  The  32  who  remained 
had  for  two  and  a  half  weeks  a  stiff 
regimen  in  writing  compositions,  with 
individual  conferences;  drill  in  rapid 
reading,  with  tests  of  comprehension  of 
the  material  read ;  drill  in  mathematics 
problems;  lectures  on  note-taking, 
mental  hygiene,  habits,  attentiveness, 
memorizing,  vocational  choice,  etc.; 
drill  in  taking  notes  on  these  lectures, 
with  conferences  on  the  notes  taken; 
and  assigned  readings  on  study 
methods  and  on  biographical  material. 

We  believe  that  disregarding  the 
question  of  the  elimination  of  the  very 
low  student,  distinct  progress  was 
made.  Four  of  the  five  men  who  were 
refused  entrance  after  a  week  of  exam- 
inations were  Italians  whose  parents 
generally  spoke  their  native  tongue  in 
the  home.  Recently,  we  have  dis- 
covered that  children  of  Italian  immi- 
grants in  the  past  have  averaged  al- 
most identically  with  children  of 
American  born  parents  in  college 
marks,  though  their  intelligence  tests 
show  a  median  score  at  the  21  percen- 
tile point  of  the  distribution  for  the 
entire  freshman  class.  Hence  we  feel 
that  our  basis  for  exclusion  was  not 
quite  fair  and  that  the  benefit  of  our 
experiment  lies  almost  entirely  in  its 
motivation  and  training  aspects. 

Our  basis  of  measuring  the  effect  of 


the  training  experiment  has  been  pri- 
marily the  academic  average  for  the 
first  and  second  semesters.  A  report^ 
was  made  initially  on  the  basis  of  warn- 
ings to  students  at  Thanksgiving  time. 
It  turned  out  that  only  a  little  more 
than  half  as  many  students  from  the 
lowest  two-fifths  (8  out  of  32)  received 
two  warnings  of  failure  as  from  the 
middle  fifth  group  (39  out  of  85)  but 

TABLE  1 

Quartile  points  of  averages  maintained  during 
the  first  semester;  A  stands  for  1,  b  for  2, 
etc.,  with  6  as  an  average  F  or  withdrawal 
from  nil  classes  lohile  failing  in  them 


FRESHMAN"  GROUPS 


1925.  Lower  two-fifths  H. 
S.  group,  (without  special 
training,  but  some  inter- 
views)   

1925.  Middle-fifth  H.  S. 
group,  (without  consulta- 
tion)   

1926.  Lower  two-fifths  H. 
S.  group,  (with  special 
training) 

1926.    Middle-fifth    H.     S. 

group,  (with  consultation) 
1926.     Upper  two-fifths  H. 

S.     group 


to 

a 

2! 

o 

fa 

o 

SS 

m 

2 

< 

S 

d- 

a 

z 

O" 

37 

5.6 

4.2 

87 

4.5 

3.9 

32 

4.2 

3.6 

69 

4.3 

3.5 

166 

3.9 

3.2 

3.2 

3.0 

3.0 

3.1 

.5 


this  proved  to  be  too  optimistic  a  re- 
port. Apparently,  our  course  gave 
the  poor  men  a  good  start  which  was 
not  necessarily  an  index  of  lasting 
scholarship. 

Table  1  shows  the  "  poor  risks, "  the 
students  from  the  lower  two-fifths  of 
high  school,  on  a  par  with  the  others 

2  A.  A.  A.  S.  meetings.  Educational  Sec- 
tion, Philadelphia,  December,  1926. 


184 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


from  the  middle-fifth  at  the  end  of  the 
first  semester.  It  shows  them  con- 
siderably above  the  lower  two-fifths 
group  of  the  preceding  year,  and  the 
middle-fifth  of  the  past  year  also. 
The  reason  for  the  superiority  of  the 
present  year's  middle-fifth  men  over 
the  corresponding  group  last  year  is 
due,  without  doubt,  to  an  extensive 
series  of  conferences  with  some  30 
middle-fifth  men  who  had  been  warned 
of  low  scholarship.  Habits  of  study, 
methods  of  reading,  and  "outside 
work"  were  the  principal  topics  of 
discussion  at  these  conferences. 

The  second  semester's  grades  are 
even  more  encouraging  than  those  of 
the  first  semester.  Whereas  with 
other  students  there  has  been  found  no 
significant  difference  in  average  marks 
from  one  semester  to  the  next,  we  find 
that  our  lowest  two-fifths  group  made 
distinct  progress  in  the  second  semes- 
ter. The  quartile  points  arranged 
below  include  4  men  who  were  dropped 
from  college  at  mid-years  while  faihng 
as  though  they  had  also  failed  the 
second  semester.  This  was  done  to 
avoid  a  different  selection  of  in- 
dividuals. 


Second  semester  aver- 
ages for  32  men  lower 
group  (1926) 


2.9 


This  indicates  that  the  "How  to 
Study"  course  has  had  a  beneficial 
effect  for  the  second  semester  as  well 
as  the  first. 

A  part  of  this  improvement  has 
been  due  to  the  fact  that  six  of  the 
group  were  forced  to  take  on  reduced 
schedules  at  the  mid-semester  period, 


13  credit  hours  instead  of  16  hours  per 
week.  Three  of  the  men  seemed  to  do 
somewhat  better  work  on  account  of 
this,  while  the  other  three  were  not 
affected  by  it. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  chief 
advantage  of  the  experimental  train- 
ing period  for  the  lowest  two-fifths 
group  appears  to  be  in  raising  the 
standards  of  the  poorest.  The  first 
quartile  was  previously  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  a  low  "E"  average, 
whereas  with  the  training  it  has  become 
a  good  "D"  average.  But  the  group 
as  a  whole  has  been  toned  up  con- 
siderably, so  that  it  is  no  whit  inferior 
to  the  group  from  the  middle-fifth  of 
high  school  that  has  had  a  good  deal  of 
consulting.  Many  professors  have 
commented  on  the  superior  quaUty  of 
the  freshmen  this  year,  and  have  in- 
dicated that  their  standards  of  mark- 
ing have  been  stiffened. 

The  rest  of  this  paper  divides  itself 
into  two  sections, — observations  (1) 
regarding  the  administration  of  in- 
telHgence  and  educational  tests,  and 
(2)  regarding  the  training  methods 
used. 

It  seemed  advisable  for  several  rea- 
sons to  try  a  considerable  number  of 
standard  intelHgence  and  scholastic 
aptitude  tests.  A  more  significant 
average  intelligence  rating  could  be 
determined;  the  best  tests  to  use  for 
such  a  purpose  could  be  discovered  on 
the  basis  of  correlations  between  the 
tests  and  school  rating  later;  and 
furthermore,  habituation  to  testing, 
endurance  and  other  factors  could  be 
studied.  It  was  even  considered  possi- 
ble that  taking  20  hours  of  intelligence 
tests  would  serve  to  train  for  calm 
thinking   those    who    had   previously 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


185 


reacted  emotionally  to  the  examination 
situation. 

But  the  main  question  is,  "Which 
tests  are  of  chief  significance  in  pre- 
dicting scholastic  accompHshment? " 
The  correlations  in  table  2  show  the 
relationship  between  each  of  the  main 
tests  used  and  the  final  average  grade 
for  the  first  semester.  These  tests  are 
Usted  approximately  in  the  order  in 
which  they  were  presented. 

In  addition  to  the  above  set  of  ex- 
aminations it  was  decided  that  each  of 
the  three  instructors*  who  had  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  every  student  should 
give  his  estimate  of  the  industiy  of 
each  student  during  the  testing  period, 
and  also  his  estimate  of  the  capacity  of 
the  student — all  things  considered — 
to  handle  college  work  satisfactorily. 
These  ratings  were  combined  and  a 
correlation  computed  between  this 
combined  estimate  and  the  first  semes- 
ter's  grades.  It  was  only  0.27,  indi- 
cating that  with  even  a  three  weeks' 
period  of  continual  contact  with  the 
students  concerned,  the  subjective 
estimates  made  by  instructors  un- 
trained in  maldng  such  estimates  were 
inferior  in  their  predictive  value  to 
several  of  the  tests  which  were  used. 

The  best  result  that  could  be  ob- 
tained by  three  tests  combined, — 
Fables  test,  Iowa  English  and  Ameri- 
can Council  1926, — showed  a  correla- 
tion of  0.61  with  the  first  semester 
grades.     Ehminating  the  three  ItaUans 

*  In  addition  to  the  writer,  Mr.  Yochel- 
son  and  Miss  Wagner,  graduate  students  in 
psychology,  were  concerned  with  all  phases 
of  the  experiment.  To  Mr.  Yochelson, 
who  has  been  research  assistant  in  the  Per- 
sonnel Department  of  the  University,  much 
credit  is  due  in  the  analyzing  and  checking 
of  statistical  data. 


in  whose  homes  Enghsh  was  not  regu- 
larly spoken,  and  giving  the  Fables 
test  double  weight  as  compared  to  the 
other  two,  the  correlation  is  raised  to 
0.71,  which  is  reasonably  high,  ap- 
proaching the  predictive  level. 
For  the  second  semester  there  was  a 

TABLE  2 


MAIN  TESTS  USED 


American    Council    Test,    1924 
Series 

Iowa  Content  Examination 

Difficult     Analogies    Test.     (15 
min.) 

Thorndike  (Part  1  Exam.) 

Iowa  English  Aptitude  Test 

Fables  Test  (15  min.  reading  and 
interpretation) 

Iowa  Mathematics  Aptitude 

American    Council    Test,     1925 
Series 

Whipple  Rapid  Reading  Test 

Inglis  Test  of  English  Vocabu- 
lary  

Ohio  State  College  Examination 
(No.    7) 

Ohio  State  College  Examination 
(No.    8)    immediately    after- 
wards, to  test  endurance  and 
practice 

American    Council    Test,     1926 
Series 


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0.18 
0.12 

0.23 
0.33 
0.40 

0.55 
0.32 

0.37 
0.35 

0.23 

0.13 


0.24 
0.43 


decided  shift  in  the  relative  standing 
of  several  of  the  group.  In  fact  the 
correlation  between  first  and  second 
semester  average  grades  was  only  0.5. 
Instead  of  a  0.61  correlation  for  the 
three  tests  above,  there  was  a  drop  to 
0.49.  However,  whereas  the  more 
linguistic  tests  of  Fables  and  the  Iowa 


186 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


lOnglish  Aptitude  tests  drop  in  their 
correlations  to  0.42  and  0.20  respec- 
tively, the  American  Council  1926 
which  is  a  "power"  test  subject  to 
practice  effects,  has  its  correlation 
raised  to  0.56. 

■  The  explanation  for  the  above  condi- 
tion is  I  believe  quite  evident.  Those 
who  foil  down  badly  the  second  semes- 
ter were  all  fraternity  people,  admitted 
to  fraternities  at  the  mid-year  period. 
They  had  done  well  in  the  linguistic 
tests,  and  had  not  been  benefited  to 
the  same  extent  as  the  others  in  the 
practice  effects  of  a  long  series  of  tests 
preliminary  to  the  1926  American 
Council  test.  It  is  probable  that  the 
damaging  effect  of  fraternity  excite- 
ment is  not  serious  beyond  the  servdle 
period  of  the  second  semester  of  the 
freshman  year.  Hence  the  first  semes- 
ter's  grades  are  perhaps  more  signifi- 
cant of  ultimate  worth  than  are  the 
grades  of  the  second  semester. 

The  following  additional  conclusions 
seem  to  be  suggested,  although  by  no 
means  are  they  proved,  on  account  of 
the  small  number  of  cases  involved : 

1.  Of  two  similar  examinations, 
differing  only  in  the  detailed  content 
and  not  in  the  method  of  administra- 
tion, the  second  examination  gives  the 
better  correlation  with  an  efficiency 
index.  The  Ohio  State  Xo.  8  I']xarm- 
nation,  given  immediately  after  No.  7, 
boosted  the  correlation  from  0.13  to 
0.24  with  the  total  group.  When  the 
three  Italians  who  interfered  with  all 
correlations  as  previousl}"^  explained 
were  excluded,  the  correlation  for  No.  8 
was  0.54,  whereas  the  correlation  of 
No.  7  with  the  first  semester  grades 
was  only  0.32. 

2.  Assuming  that  the  various  Ameri- 


can Council  examinations  are  about 
equally  efficient  in  predicting  scholastic 
ability,  it  is  apparent  that  the  1926  test 
given  at  the  end  of  the  examination 
period  is  conspicuously  better  than  the 

1924  test  given  at  the  beginning.  Its 
correlation  with  grades  is  0.43  as  com- 
pared to  0.18.  In  other  words,  it 
seems  desirable  to  test  intelligence 
after  a  period  of  adaptation  or  orienta- 
tion to  an  intelUgence  testing  situation. 
This  includes  the  chance  to  understand 
instructions  better  than  is  possible  at 
first. 

Excluding  the  Italians,  the  correla- 
tions with  first  semester  grades  are  0.40 
for  the  initial  1924  series,  0.58  for  the 

1925  series  and  0.54  for  the  final  test 
with  the  1926  series.  This  suggests 
that  for  children  of  Knglish-speaking 
parents,  there  is  an  increased  correla- 
tion due  to  adaptation  to  testing  in 
general,  but  only  to  the  extent  of  one 
testing  series.  There  is  no  significant 
increase  or  decrease  from  the  second  to 
the  third  series  of  American  Council 
tests.  Tliis  suggestion  is  entirely  ten- 
tative, however,  as  we  have  found  no 
evidence  that  the  two  American  Coun- 
cil tests  were  of  equal  value,  and 
because  of  the  small  number  of  cases. 

3.  In  studying  the  various  tests,  it 
appears  that  for  tliis  group  of  inferior 
students  there  is  not  much  difference 
between  the  so-called  power  tests,  with 
time  Umits,  and  the  content  examina- 
tions if  they  also  have  time  limits.  It 
was  rather  surprising  to  us,  however, 
that  the  Iowa  Content*  examination 

*  It  so  happened  that  the  man  scoring 
highest  in  the  Iowa  Content  examination 
was  lowest  in  final  scholarship,  mainly  we 
believe  because  he  worked  four  or  five  hours 
every  day  on  the  outside.  Without  this  one 
man  the  correlation  is  raised  to  nearly  0.4. 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


187 


showed  up  so  poorly.  When  the 
Itahans  were  omitted,  this  correlation 
was  raised  from  0.12  to  0.39;  but  at 
the  same  time,  the  correlation  between 
the  mathematics  aptitude  and  grades 
was  raised  from  0.32  to  0.50,  and  the 
average  of  all  the  correlations  was 
raised  0.15. 

It  appears  also  that  the  simple 
reading  tests,  where  interpretations 
and  instructions  are  also  involved 
(Fables  and  Whipple  reading),  come 
out  very  well.  It  is  interesting  to 
note,  moreover,  that  their  correlations 
with  academic  standing  do  not  increase 
significantly  when  the  Itahans  are 
omitted. 

It  has  also  been  possible  to  measure 
the  amount  of  improvement  in  the 
capacity  to  get  good  scores  in  intelh- 
gence  tests.  We  do  not  beheve  that 
eighteen  days  of  testing  and  drilHng 
will  have  an  appreciable  effect  on  one 's 
actual  intellectual  capacity;  but  we  do 
find  that  in  the  abihty  to  maintain 
good  scores  in  tests  of  the  "power" 
type,  a  20-hour  testing  program  to- 
gether with  three  weeks  of  drill  (de- 
scribed later  in  this  paper)  has  a 
striking  effect.  Our  conclusion  in- 
volves only  the  assumption  that  the 
general  intellectual  standing  of  the 
students  admitted  in  1925  was  about 
the  same  as  those  admitted  in  1926. 
To  support  this  assumption  are  the 
facts  that  the  number  of  students  from 
one  year  to  the  next  did  not  increase 
more  than  10  per  cent,  that  they  were 
drawn  from  the  same  high  schools,  and 
also  that  the  proportion  of  students 
admitted  from  the  various  fifths  of 
their  high  school  graduating  classes 
was  almost  identical  for  the  two  years. 
If  there  is  any  difference  in  general 


mental  level,  it  is  in  favor  of  the  1926 
group,  as  there  was  for  this  group  for 
the  first  time  a  definitely  restricting 
hurdle, — the  four  weeks  "how  to 
study"  course  for  those  from  the  lower 
two-fifths  of  their  high  schools.  Our 
comparison  is  based  on  the  quartile 
points  of  our  32  lower  two-fifths  men 
in  terms  of  percentile  scores  for  the 
entire  class  in  each  year  group.  (See 
table  3.) 

The  average  amount  of  improve- 
ment was  33  per  cent  on  a  percentile 
scale.  In  other  words,  one  can  expect 
to  raise  the  average  score  of  a  doubtful 

TABLE  3 
Percentile  scores  for  the  entire  test 


i  55  a 

i.  f* 

U^ 

o  ? 

O  H  ^ 

O  H  5S 

>  ^ 

>  3 

53" 

^3i 

o  00  a 

a  to  O 

S  S" 

B  PS  5  H 

a  n:  fa 

S  K  ^  S 

a  H  0 

■<  ffl  a 

«d5 

c^  U  »  U 

C4  u  H 

Ol 

Ol 

per  cent 

per  cent 

3rd  Quartile 

58 

83 

Median 

39 
17 

74 

1st  Quartile 

59 

college  appUcant  one  third  of  the  dis- 
tance on  a  scale  of  ranks  from  1  to  100. 
There  was  only  one  man  who  failed  to 
improve  while  two  others  fell  below  a 
ten  per  cent  increase;  and  it  is  sugges- 
tive that  two  of  these  three  men  have 
done  poorly  in  college.  However 
there  is  no  significant  correlation  be- 
tween improvement  and  marks  for  the 
entire  group.  As  would  be  expected, 
the  gain  is  apparently  much  greater 
for  those  who  are  initially  low  in  the 
tests. 

When  one  considers  the  individual 
tests  used  for  these  two  series  of  exami- 


THB  PEBSOKNEL  JOUBNAL,  VOL.  VI,  KO.   3 


188 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


nations,  one  is  impressed  by  the  close 
similarity  in  the  types  of  tests  and  with 
the  fact  that  in  some  cases  there  is  a 
radical  improvement  made  in  the  per- 
centile scores;  while  in  other  types  of 
tests,  there  is  practically  no  improve- 
ment. There  were  a  few  tests  in  the 
1926  series  which  were  not  dupUcates 
of  any  1924  American  Council  series, 
but  which  were  similar  to  some  of  the 
other  tests  used,  particularly  some  of 
the  Ohio  State  tests.  Hence,  a  dis- 
tinct practice  effect  is  obvious  for  them 

TABLE  4 
Comparison  of  our  S2  cases  in  individual 
tests  of  1924  American  Council  series  before 
test  practice,  and  1926  American  Council 
series  after  18  hours  practice 


Opposites 

Proverbs 

Arithmetic 

Artificial  Language.  . 
Completion 

Sentences 

No.  Completion 

Analogies 


IstQ. 


3rd  Q. 


71 
85 
69 
93 

71 
93 

88 


also.     The  quartile  points  for  each  of 
these  tests  are  given  in  table  4. 

It  appears  that  there  is  practically 
no  improvement  in  the  function  of 
working  problems  accurately.  It  is 
possible  that  was  partly  due  to  an 
over-emphasis  on  speed  at  times  during 
the  training  period,  as  the  "total 
number  tried"  was  greater  the  second 
time.  The  Opposites  test,  and  the 
Completion  of  Sentences  and  the 
Proverbs  test  come  next,  showing 
relativelj'  little  training  effect.  The 
Number  Completion  test,  the  .Analo- 


gies and  the  Artificial  Language  test, — 
in  general,  those  tests  in  which  under- 
standing instructions  takes  up  much  of 
the  time,  or  in  which  the  function  is 
generally  unpracticed, — show  great 
practice  effects,  and  are  decidedly 
subject  to  criticism  in  a  college  testing 
program  because  of  coaching  oppor- 
tunities. 

The  second  phase  of  the  experiment 
was  the  training  aspect  of  it.  Here  it 
is  that  we  are  conspicuously  without 
controls,  and  we  do  not  attempt  to 
make  quantitative  statements  as  to 
the  values  of  the  various  components 
of  the  total  training  situation.  It 
would  have  been  possible  to  request 
from  each  student  his  estimate  of  the 
training  values  of  each  item, — and  this 
was  done  informally  with  a  number. 
But  obviously  such  estimates  are  en- 
tirely subjective  and  are  of  little  value. 
Perhaps  the  best  criterion  of  all  is  the 
relative  successes  of  the  poor-risk 
students  in  their  various  college  sub- 
jects. It  is  significant  that  no  one  of 
the  low  students  failed  in  his  English 
courses,  and  there  were  only  two 
reports  of  failure  in  mathematics,  as 
compared  to  five  failures  in  the  lan- 
guages and  six  in  the  course  in  general 
science.  This  result  indicates  that  the 
type  of  training  in  English  composition 
was  apparently  very  successful,  as 
heretofore  English  courses  have  failed 
a  large  proportion  of  the  low  stu- 
dents,— nearly  haK  last  year.  The 
training  in  mathematics  was  appar- 
ently quite  valuable,  although  much 
less  time  was  spent  on  it;  while  the 
training  in  note-taking  and  reporting 
the  substance  of  books  and  articles  was 
apparently  less  effectual,  as  indicated 
by  the  larger  number  of  failures  in  our 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


189 


science  courses  where  note-taking  is 
imperative. 

In  view  of  the  actual  record  of  course 
work,  the  informal  reports  from  the 
students  concerned,  and  our  own  esti- 
mate of  the  interest  shown  and  the 
progress  made  in  the  various  endeavors 
we  are  incHned  to  place  the  order  of 
merit  of  these  endeavors  from  good  to 
less  good  as  follows : 

1.  Drill  in  writing  compositions,  ac- 
companied by  individual  conferences 
and  criticisms  from  the  tutor. ^  The 
method  of  instruction  was  for  the 
instructor  to  meet  the  entire  group 
together  for  an  hour  and  a  half  each 
morning,  during  which  time  he  lec- 
tured on  important  topics  and  illus- 
trated his  points  by  reading  themes. 
Finally,  as  a  rule,  he  assigned  a  theme 
topic  for  each  student  to  write  in  his 
presence.  The  remainder  of  the  day 
was  spent  in  individual  interviews, 
when  each  man's  composition  was 
read  aloud  and  constructively  criti- 
cized. This  procedure,  repeated  every 
day  for  two  weeks,  was  apparently 
remarkably  successful. 

2.  Drill  in  rapid  reading  of  simple 
material,  articles  from  the  daily  news- 
paper. These  articles  were  distrib- 
uted in  duplicate  to  each  student. 
The  procedure  used  was  to  have  all  the 
students  read  the  article  as  rapidly  as 
they  could,  but  with  the  understanding 
that  questions  would  be  raised  later 
regarding  the  content  of  the  article. 
It  was  possible,  thus,  to  measm-e 
speed  in  number  of  words  per  second, 

'  Mr.  Francis  H.  Bangs,  who  formerly 
conducted  sub-freshman  groups  in  English 
composition  at  Yale  University,  and  is  now 
a  member  of  the  English  Department  of  the 
University  of  Buffalo. 


as  well    as    comprehension  for   each 
article  read. 

During  the  middle  of  the  three  week 
drill  session,  each  man 's  average  read- 
ing speed  and  comprehension  was 
posted  for  the  inspection  of  all,  as  an 
incentive  to  improve.  It  was  difficult 
to  work  out  a  curve  of  improvement  of 
speed  from  beginning  to  end,  because 
of  the  difference  in  the  difficulty  of  the 
various  articles  used.  However,  the 
final  reading  speed  for  the  group  using 
easy  material  was  from  four  to  nine 
words  per  second.  The  average  was 
approximately  six  words  per  second.'' 
We  believe  that  this  is  well  up  to  the 
standard  of  the  typical  American 
college  student.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
we  have  discovered  at  the  University 
of  Buffalo  several  students  from  the 
middle-fifth  of  rural  high  school  classes 

^  Mr.  Yochelson  reports  the  following 
quartile  points  for  the  speed  of  reading. 
The  first  column  gives  the  quartiles  for  the 
average  number  of  words  per  second  which 
were  read  from  three  different  newspaper 
articles  at  the  beginning  of  the  drill  or 
training  period;  and  the  second  column  gives 
the  quartile  points  for  the  score  averages 
for  the  last  three  times  of  some  15  drill 
periods  with  similar  material.  There  was 
an  average  gain  of  more  than  a  word  per 
second  as  a  consequence,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  there  was  a  tendency  to  give  the  harder 
articles  at  the  end  of  the  series.  Compre- 
hension was  much  harder  to  calibrate,  but 
there  was  a  general  tendency  for  the  group 
to  answer  more  of  the  questions  asked  them 
and  to  give  better  answers. 

Average  number  of  words  per  second  read  on  simple 
newspaper  articles. 


Ist  Quartile 

Median 

3rd  Quartile 


AT  THE 
BEGIN- 


3.7 

4.4 
5.4 


LATER, 
WITH 
PRAC- 
TICE 


5  0 
5.8 

6  4 


190 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


who  were  not  able  to  read  as  rapidly  as 
four  words  per  second. 

3.  The  drill  in  note-taking  ranks 
third  in  importance  in  our  estimation. 
Two  lectures  were  given  on  the  various 
aspects  of  note-taking,  and  an  assign- 
ment was  made  on  its  technique  from 
Kitson's  "How  To  Use  Your  Mind" 
(revised) ;  and  thereafter,  each  student 
was  required  to  report  to  instructors 
with  his  notes  on  lectures  given  and  on 
the  books  which  he  had  read.  By  one 
or  another  instructor  each  was  ques- 
tioned three  or  four  times  by  such 
remarks  as  "Just  what  is  meant  by 
this  statement?",  or  "Whj^  did  you 
classify  this  comment  under  C  (3) 
instead  of  under  D  (1)?" 

Important  as  this  aspect  of  training 
was,  we  feel  that  we  did  not  make 
great  headway  in  it,  largely  because  of 
the  time-consuming  character  of  the 
note-taking  interviews. 

We  found  two  or  three  men  in  our 
group  who  had  never  before  taken 
notes  of  any  kind,  and  a  number  had 
merely  transcribed  at  random  the 
statements  of  a  speaker.  Hardly  a 
person  had  built  up  a  system  of  logical 
orderliness  or  of  abbreviations, — and 
these  are  hard  to  develop  in  a  short 
period  of  time.  In  a  General  Science 
course,  which  most  of  our  freshmen 
are  required  to  take,  and  which  de- 
pends quite  largely  upon  the  taking  of 
notes  from  lectures,  our  "poor  risk" 
students  did  less  well  than  we  ex- 
pected. We  hope  in  the  future  to 
develop  this  aspect  of  drill  work  con- 
siderably, not  only  by  increasing  the 
time  taken  for  interviews,  but  also 
by  introducing  new  methods  of  in- 
struction. 

4.  Drill  in  mathematics  problems. 


About  every  other  day  a  set  of  prob- 
lems was  handed  out  on  mimeographed 
sheets,  none  of  which  involved  more 
than  simple  algebra.  About  one  half 
the  time — 25  to  30  minutes — was 
spent  on  practical  concrete  problems 
and  the  other  haK  on  drill  with  quad- 
ratics or  other  common  forms. 

5.  We  are  uncertain  as  to  the  value 
of  the  various  50-minute  lectures 
given  on  different  topics.  We  believe 
that  they  were  of  considerable  value, 
however,  not  only  as  a  means  of  drill 
exercises  in  note-taking,  but  by  virtue 
of  motivating  our  students  to  analyze 
themselves  and  make  new  attempts  at 
habits  of  study.  About  ten  lectures 
were  given  in  all,  covering  such  topics 
as  mental  hygiene,  note-taking,  abbre- 
viations, habits,  attentiveness,  memo- 
rizing, culture,  and  vocational  choice. 
A  number  of  students  commented 
upon  one  or  another  of  the  lectures  as 
having  given  them  an  entirely  new 
slant  on  education  or  on  the  best 
method  of  study. 

In  addition  to  the  above  systematic 
efforts,  there  were  various  additional 
features  involved  in  the  training 
period,  such  as  three  periods  of  general 
discussion  where  each  man  was  urged 
to  defend  or  criticize  some  statement; 
extensive  private  interviews  based  on 
interest  questionnaires;  tachistoscope 
studies  of  the  range  of  attention;  and 
the  assignment  of  various  books  from 
the  library,  chiefly  biographical  studies, 
to  be  read  rapidly  during  the  late 
afternoon  periods  or  evenings.  We  do 
not  feel  that  any  of  these  elements 
were  so  introduced  as  to  be  as  valuable 
as  the  five  mentioned  above,  but  they 
might  well  be  made  more  significant 
with  a  different  emphasis.     The  in- 


Jones:  The  Inferior  Freshman 


191 


dex  of  the  range  of  attention,  and  also 
the  results  of  a  two-hour  examination 
at  the  end  of  the  course  on  the  results 
of  their  readings,  both  gave  practically 
zero  correlations  with  the  first  semester 
academic  grades. 

There  are  two  comments  frequently 
made  in  reference  to  our  experiment. 
One  is  that  it  should  not  be  the  busi- 
ness of  a  college  to  teach  study  habits, 
rapid  reading,  etc.,  but  that  these 
should  be  handled  by  the  grammar 
school  and  high  school.  The  other 
comment  is  to  the  effect  that  if  such 
a  course  is  effective  for  those  from  the 
lower  levels  of  their  high  schools, 
it  ought  also  to  be  valuable  for  the 
others. 

To  the  first  comment,  our  answer 
would  be  that  a  college  should  not  take 


up  its  time  with  such  affairs;  and  our 
method  was  to  take  the  time  of  the 
students  before  they  entered  college, 
on  a  precollegiate  basis  entirely,  with 
extra  tuition.  This  is  apparently 
superior  to  the  current  typical  proce- 
dure of  allowing  many  such  students 
who  are  sadly  defective  in  these  re- 
spects to  enter  college. 

We  have  no  adequate  evidence  on 
the  second  question.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  average  third-fifth  student 
could  benefit  as  much  as  the  lower  two- 
fifths  group.  For  those  in  the  upper 
third  or  two-fifths  of  their  high  school 
classes,  however,  it  is  likely  that  study- 
ing has  become  a  better  practiced 
technique,  and  would  not  be  so  easily 
improved. 


Determination  of  Vocational  Aptitudes 

Does  the  Tapping  Test  Measure  Aptitude  as  Typist 

or  Pianist  ? 

By  Harry  D.  Kitsox,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 

How  is  the  worth  of  mi  aptitude  test  best  determined?  Professor 
Kitson  is  rightly  critical  of  methods  of  validation  which  rely  on 
correlations  between  test  score  and  proficiency  on  the  job,  with- 
out consideration  of  scores  made  by  a  comparable  but  vocationally 
unselected  group. 

This  investigation  departs  from  most  of  the  investigations  of  voca- 
tional aptitude  in  two  respects:  (1)  Instead  of  trying  to  establish  the 
significance  of  several  tests  with  one  vocation,  the  investigator  used  one 
test  (tapping)  in  relation  to  two  vocations — typist  and  pianist;  (2)  In- 
stead of  ranking  the  workers  in  the  try-out  groups  according  to  their 
vocational  proficiency  and  trying  to  establish  the  correlation  between 
standing  in  this  respect  and  standing  in  the  test,  the  investigator  com- 
pared the  average  score  which  was  made  by  these  workers  with  the 
average  score  made  by  comparable  members  of  the  population  at 
large  who  were  not  selected  vocationally. 

The  results,  when  statistically  analyzed,  show  that  the  persons  in  the 
two  vocations  studied  did  not  stand  significantly  higher  in  the  test  than 
did  members  of  the  population  at  large. 

The  test  had  been  given  by  an  earlier  investigator  to  a  number  of 
champion  typists  who  made  a  score  on  the  test  somewhat  higher  than 
that  made  by  the  population  at  large  and  by  amateur  tj^pists  as  well, 
which  led  him  to  conclude  that  it  is  a  valid  aptitude  test  for  typists. 
The  results  of  the  present  investigation,  in  which  only  the  ordinary  run 
of  commercial  t3^pists  served  as  subjects,  suggest,  however,  that  while 
the  test  may  serve  to  indicate  those  who  are  or  may  become  very  su- 
perior typists,  it  will  not  help  in  selecting  persons  who  may  become 
typists  of  average  commercial  standing. 

Since  negative  results  were  obtained  with  the  pianists  as  well,  the 
suggestion  is  made  that  while  such  tests  may  be  of  service  in  vocational 
selection  they  are  not  of  great  service  in  vocational  guidance  since  they 
do  not  indicate  special  aptitude  for  the  middle  ranges  of  vocational 
achievement  where  most  workers  are  hkely  to  be.  Accordingly  it  is 
proposed  that  any  test  which  is  to  be  used  as  an  aid  in  vocational  guid- 
ance meet  the  following  condition:  it  must,  in  the  process  of  being 
standardized,  differentiate  between  groups  of  medium  vocational  pro- 
ficiency and  persons  from  the  population  at  large  who  are  not  selected 
vocationally. 

192 


Kitson:  Vocational  Aptitudes 


193 


IN  THE  testing  for  vocational  apti- 
tudes which  is  now  being  vigor- 
ously prosecuted,  the  customary- 
procedure  is  to  select  a  number  of 
tests;  give  them  to  representatives  of 
a  vocation;  find  the  coefl&cients  of 
correlation  between  standings  in  the 
tests  and  standings  in  the  vocation; 
and  then  to  regard  those  tests  with 
respect  to  which  there  is  a  high  coeffi- 
cient of  correlation,  as  tests  for  voca- 
tional aptitude.  The  writer  has  at- 
tempted two  variants  on  the  usual 
procedure:  First,  instead  of  using  a 
variety  of  different  tests  in  connection 
with  a  single  vocation,  he  chose  to 
concentrate  on  a  single  test,  and,  by 
giving  it  to  groups  of  persons  in  dif- 
ferent vocations,  he  sought  to  de- 
termine its  vocational  significance,  if 
any,  in  connection  with  these  different 
occupations.  Second,  instead  of  de- 
pending for  validation  on  a  one-to-one 
comparison  between  standings  of 
workers  in  the  test  and  standing  in 
their  vocation,  as  measured  by  some 
formula  for  determining  correlation, 
he  chose  to  test  persons  in  specific 
vocational  groups  and  compare  their 
scores  with  those  made  by  comparable 
members  of  the  population  who  were 
not  selected  vocationally. 

The  test  chosen  was  one  which,  so 
far  as  could  be  judged  from  outward 
appearances,  might  be  expected  to  re- 
semble the  work  of  the  vocations 
chosen  for  study — typist  and  pianist. 
It  was  a  test  usually  called  a  tapping 
test,  first  used  by  Bryan,i  who  estab- 
lished norms  of  performance  for  chil- 

'  Bryan,  W.  L.  On  the  development  of 
voluntary  motor  ability.  American  Jour- 
nal of  Psychology,  Vol.  V,  December,  1892, 
pp.  1-80. 


dren  aged  six  to  sixteen.  Norms  for 
advanced  ages  were  secured  by  Nichol- 
son (Unpublished  thesis,  Indiana  Uni- 
versity, 1925).  The  apparatus  used  in 
the  testing  will  not  be  described  being 
already  described  in  detail  in  the 
previously  mentioned  report.  It  con- 
sisted merely  of  a  telegraph  key 
connected  to  a  counter,  purchased 
from  C.  H.  Stoelting  Company,  Chi- 
cago. The  tests  were  given  by  the 
members  of  a  class  at  the  University 
of  Indiana,  all  advanced  students  in 
psychology  who  had  been  specially 
trained  in  giving  tests,  and  to  whom 
as  well  as  to  the  persons  who  served 
as  subjects,  the  writer  expresses  hearty 
thanks. 

As -will  be  shown  in  connection  with 
the  results,  the  test  really  consists  of 
eight  tests:  one  each  for  the  index 
finger,  the  hand,  the  forearm  and  the 
entire  arm  of  each  side  of  the  body. 
The  plan  of  research  was  to  test 
workers  in  vocations  which  required 
the  activity  of  these  members. 

Two  vocational  groups  were  chosen. 
The  first  consisted  of  twenty-five 
women  pianists  who  were  advanced 
enough  to  be  able  to  play  selections  of 
the  difficulty  of  Grade  IV — a  standard 
familiar  in  music  pedagogy.  (Such  a 
selection  is  Mendelssohn's  Spring 
Song.)  The  musicians  to  be  tested 
were  selected  by  two  Professors  in  the 
School  of  Music  of  the  University  of 
Indiana  who  had  known  the  subjects 
for  a  considerable  time,  in  every  case 
a  year  or  more.  The  subjects  had 
studied  the  piano  for  four  to  eleven 
years. 

The  second  group  consisted  of  25 
women  who  were  earning  their  living 
by  typewriting.     Almost  all  of  them 


194 


Kitson:  Vocational  Aptitudes 


TABLE  1 
Group  comparison  in  the  tapping  test 
Twenty-five  pianists,  averaging  20  years  of  age,  conapared  with  fifty  unselected  women 
20  years  of  age;  and  twenty-five  typists,  averaging  21  years  of  age,  compared  with  fifty 
unselected  women  21  years  of  age. 


Pianists: 

Mean 

<r 

P.E.„ 

Unselected 
women : 

Mean 

a 

P.E.„ 

Difference 
in  means . . 

P.E.  of  diff. 
in  means. . 

Typists : 

Mean 

<T 

P.E.„ 

Unselected 
women : 
Mean 

<r 

P.E.m 

Difference  in 
means 

P.E.  of  diff. 
in  means . . 


LEFT  HAND 


Finger     Wrist      ^ore-     Whole     ^^    , 
arm        arm 


5.6 
0.5 
0.07 


5.9 
0.5 
0.07 


-0.3 
0.10 


5.5 
1.0 
0.13 


5.8 
0.6 

o;o8 


6.7 
0.7 
0.09 


6.2 
0.5 
0.07 


+0.5 
0.11 


5.5 
1.2 
0.16 


5.7 
0.8 
0.11 


0.3    -0.2 


0.15 


0.19 


6.8 
0.6 
0.08 


6.3 
0.6 
0.08 


+0.5 
0.11 


7.1 
0.8 
0.11 


6.2 
0.6 
0.08 


+0.9 


0.14 


6.1 
0.5 
0.07 


5.6 
0.5 
0.07 


+0.5 
0.10 


5.9 
0.7 
0.09 


5.5 
0.5 
0.07 


+0.4 


0.11 


25.2 
1.8 
0.24 


24.0 
1.75 
0.24 


RIGHT  BAND 


Finger     Wrist 


+  1.2 
0.34 


25.1 
3.1 
0.42 


23.2 
2.2 
0.3 


+  1.9 
0.52 


5.9 
0.6 
0.08 


6.4 
0.5 
0.07 


-0.5 
0.11 


6.1 
1.0 
0.13 


6.4 
0.8 
0.11 


-0.3 
0.17 


7.1 
0.7 
0.09 


7.0 
0.6 
0.08 


Fore-     Whole 
arm        arm 


+0.1 
0.12 


7.1 
1.0 
0.13 


6.7 
1.0 
0.13 


+  0.4    +0.8 


7.3 
0.8 
0.11 


6.8 
0.6 
0.08 


+0.5 
0.14 


7.7 
0.6 
0.08 


6.9 
1.0 
0.13 


6.6 
0.5 
0.07 


6.0 
0.4 
0.05 


Total 


+0.6 
0.09 


6.9 
0.7 
0.09 


6.1 
0.7 
0.09 


0.18 


0.15 


26.9 
1.9 
0.26 


26.2 
1.7o 
0.24 


BOTH 
HANDS 
(TOT.4.L) 


+  0. 
0.35 


27.8 
2.2 
0.03 


26.1 
3.2 
0.43 


+  0.8 
0.13 


+  1.7 
0.52 


52.1 
3.4 
0.45 


50.2 
3.2 
0.43 


+1.9 
0.63 


52.9 
5.2 
0.70 


49.3 
5.0 
0.67 


+3.6 
0.9 


did  various  kinds  of  office  work  in 
addition  to  typing.  The  significant 
thing  is  that  they  were  expert  enough 
to  be  called  typists  and  to  earn  their 
living  by  typing. 

RESULTS 

The  average  number  of  taps  made 
by  the  members  of  each  group  are 


shown  in  table  1 .  In  comparing  these 
with  the  norms  of  persons  who  were 
not  selected  vocationally,  it  seems  wise 
to  use  persons  of  the  same  ages  as  those 
of  the  vocational  groups.  Accordingly 
the  scores  made  by  the  pianists,  who 
were  on  the  average  20  years  of  age, 
will  be  compared  with  the  scores  made 
by  50  unselected  women  of  20  years; 


Kitson:  Vocational  Aptitudes 


195 


and  the  scores  made  by  the  typists, 
who  were  on  the  average  21  years  old, 
will  be  compared  with  the  scores  made 
by  50  unselected  women  of  the  same 
age. 

In  making  comparisons,  we  shall 
first  use  the  total  number  of  taps  per 
second  made  with  both  hands.  These 
figures  are  for  pianists:  52.1;  for  un- 
selected 20-year-old  women,  50.2.  For 
the  typists  (who  were  on  the  average 
21  years  old)  the  average  is  52.9;  for 
unselected  21-year-old  women,  49.3. 

These  figures  seem  at  first  glance  to 
indicate  that  at  least  the  pianists  and 

TABLE  2 
Differences  and  Probable   Errors  of  Differ- 
ences between  work  of  vocational  groups 
and  unselected  groups  of  same  age 


Pianists. 
Typists. 


g.  m 


1.90.63 
3.6  0.97 


.  < 


0.70.35 
1.70.52 


1.2 
1.9 


0.34 
0.52 


typists  tapped  more  rapidly  than  the 
unselected  persons  of  their  ages,  the 
difference  in  favor  of  the  vocational 
groups  being  shown  in  table  2.  Before 
laying  too  much  stress  on  these  differ- 
ences, however,  we  should  scrutinize 
them  statistically  in  order  to  determine 
their  significance.  The  accepted  way 
of  testing  them  is  to  compare  them 
with  their  Probable  Errors  computed 
according  to  the  formula: 

E  being  arrived  at  by  means  of  the 
formula 


E  = 


0.6745(T 


Vn  (number  of  cases  =  25) 


In  order  for  a  difference  to  be  con- 
sidered significant  it  should  be  four  or 
five  times  as  large  as  the  Probable 
Error  of  the  Difference;  in  which  case 
the  chances  that  it  is  significant  are 
computed  to  be  142  to  1. 

When  thus  scrutinized  none  of  the 
differences  in  total  number  of  taps  can 
be  said  to  be  statistically  significant. 
The  dift^erence  between  the  work  of  the 
pianists  and  that  of  unselected  women 
is  1.9  which  is  only  three  times  the 
P.E.  of  D.  That  between  the  work  of 
typists  and  unselected  women  is  3.6, 
still  not  four  times  the  P.E.  of  D. 

In  drawing  the  conclusion  that  this 
tapping  test  as  a  whole  does  not  seem 
to  be  a  test  of  aptitude  for  typing  we 
ought  to  take  into  consideration  the 
findings  of  Book  who  tested  seven  per- 
sons who  had  won  the  world's  cham- 
pionship and  found  that  they  were 
markedly  superior  to  persons  of  their 
corresponding  ages.-  He  concluded, 
therefore,  that  this  test  is  a  good  test 
for  selecting  typists.  A  reconcihation 
of  these  apparently  contradictory  re- 
sults may  be  offered  as  follows:  It  is 
probable  that  this  tapping  test  is 
diagnostic  of  aptitude  such  as  that 
possessed  by  the  worWs  champions, 
but  is  not  indicative  of  the  aptitude 
possessed  by  the  average  commercial 
typist.  Comfirmation  of  this  view 
comes  again  from  Book's^  study  which 
showed  that  22  students  of  typewriting 
who  after  three  or  four  months '  train- 
ing had  been  rated  "very  superior" 
and   "superior"   by  their  instructor 

*  Book,  Wm.  F.  Voluntary  motor  abil- 
ity of  the  world's  champion  typists.  The 
Journal  of  Applied  Psychology,  Vol.  VIII, 
No.  3,  September,  1924. 

»76id.,  p.303. 


196 


Kitson:  Vocational  Aptitudes 


made  an  average  score  of  only  G.3 
strokes  per  second,  which  is  ahnost 
exactly  that  made  by  unselected 
women  aged  twenty-one  (49.3  divided 
by  8  (movements  for  both  hands) 
equals  6.2).  In  other  words  Book's 
typists  did  not  surpass  unselected 
persons. 

In  short,  the  evidence  seems  to  point 
to  the  probability  that  if  the  move- 
ments called  forth  by  this  test  are  a 
measure  of  aptitude  for  typing,  they 
are  of  value  only  in  indicating  the 
persons  who  will  probably  stand  in  the 
highest  positions  in  typing  (and  perhaps 
the  lowest,  since  Book's  students  of 
typewriting  who  were  marked  failures 
made  an  average  of  only  5.8  taps  per 
second,  though  this  is  perhaps  not 
significantly  lower  than  the  average). 
But  as  for  selecting  those  who  might 
become  typists  of  average  commercial 
status,  and  these  will  constitute  the  bulk 
of  typists,  the  test  as  a  whole  does  not 
seem  to  be  serviceable.  If  this  phe- 
nomenon which  we  have  discovered  in 
connection  with  the  investigation  of 
typists,  is  present  with  respect  to  tests 
in  general,  we  shall  have  to  revise  our 
conception  of  the  utility  of  tests  for  the 
determination  of  vocational  aptitudes. 
We  shall  have  to  regard  them  as  se- 
lective merely  of  persons  who  will 
either  be  very  good  or  very  poor  and  not 
selective  of  persons  who  might  reach 
the  proficiency  of  the  ordinary  worker 
who  will  always  constitute  the  ma- 
jority of  persons  we  are  dealing  with. 

Though  the  results  of  the  present 
investigation  do  not  show  that  the 
workers  were  significantly  superior  to 
unselected  persons  with  respect  to  the 
total  number  of  taps  with  both  hands 
or  with  the  right  and  left  hands  con- 


sidered separately,  still,  when  we 
examine  the  various  tapping  move- 
ments we  find  several  differences  that 
are  significant — four  or  five  times  the 
P.E.  of  D.  They  arc  shown  in  the 
following  lists:  Pianists  excel  by  a 
significant  difference  the  unselected 
women  in  tapping  with: 

right  forearm  (ell3,^\v  movement) 
left  hand  (wrist) 
left  forearm  (elbow) 
left  arm  (shoulder) 

Typists  excel  by  a  significant  difference 
the  unselected  women  in  tapping  with : 

right  forearm 
right  arm 
left  hand 
left  forearm 
left  arm 

The  reason  some  of  the  separate 
movements  are  superior  even  though 
the  total  of  all  the  movements  are  not 
is  that  while  one  of  the  vocational 
groups  may  have  excelled  in  tapping 
with  one  part  of  the  body,  they  may 
have  been  inferior  in  tapping  with 
another  part,  and  thus  the  net  differ- 
ence was  reduced.  For  example, 
although  the  pianists  surpassed  un- 
selected women  in  tapping  with  three 
of  the  members  of  the  left  side  they 
were  inferior  to  the  latter  in  tapping 
with  the  finger  on  both  right  and  left 
hands.  A  ready  explanation  of  this 
can  be  offered.  In  both  piano  playing 
and  typing  the  finger  is  kept  curved, 
the  end  of  the  finger  striking  the  key 
vertically.  In  the  tapping  test,  how- 
ever, the  stroke  had  to  be  made  with 
the  finger  held  in  a  horizontal  position. 
This  is  markedly  opposed  to  the  habits 
formed  by  pianists  and  typists  and  it 
undoubtedly  caused  much  interference. 


Kitson:  Vocational  Aptitudes 


197 


A  number  of  the  subjects  mentioned 
the  fact  and  they  had  to  be  constantly 
cautioned  by  the  experimenter. 

CONCLUSIONS 

This  experiment,  designed  to  deter- 
mine the  suitability  of  a  tapping  test 
as  a  measure  of  vocational  aptitude, 
has  differed  from  previous  investiga- 
tions in  several  respects.  Instead  of 
using  several  tests  with  one  vocation 
the  experimenter  used  one  test  with 
several  vocations.  We  might  call  at- 
tention to  a  measure  of  economy  thus 
effected;  it  is  generally  admitted  that 
we  do  not  need  more  tests  but  that  we 
need  to  determine  the  vocational  sig- 
nificance of  the  tests  at  hand.  What 
would  seem  more  reasonable,  then, 
than  to  determine  the  significance  of 
one  test  with  respect  to  a  number  of 
vocations? 

Again,  instead  of  using  an  "order- 
of-merit "  arrangement  of  workers,  and 
measuring  the  degree  of  correspond- 
ence between  standings  in  the 
vocation  and  standings  in  the  tests 
the  writer  compared  the  average  test- 
scores  made  by  each  group  of  workers 
mth  test  scores  made  by  unselected 
persons. 

Another  variation,  that  of  compar- 
ing the  performances  of  vocational 
specialists  with  the  performances  of 
persons  unselected  vocationally  seems 
to  offer  some  advantages  over  the  most 
commonly  used  method  of  testing 
representatives  of  a  vocation  and 
seeking  to  ascertain  the  correspond- 
ence between  standings  in  vocational 
proficiency  and  standings  in  the  test- 
acti\aty.  This  last  named  method 
leads  to  a  spurious  appearance  of 
relationship  at  least  for  purposes  of 


vocational  guidance,  since  in  the  latter 
case  one  wishes  to  know  the  difference 
in  test  performance  not  between  good 
and  poor  workers  but  between  workers 
of  adequate  vocational  proficiency  and 
the  unselected  population.  Can  we 
not  require  of  a  test  for  guidance  that 
it  differentiate  vocational  groups  from 
the  population  at  large? 

Again  this  technique  would  reheve 
vocational  testing  from  the  obsession 
of  correlation  methods  under  which  it 
now  suffers.  The  inapphcability  of 
correlations  as  measures  of  the  vahdity 
of  a  test  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  show 
only  the  tendency  for  one 's  standing  in 
vocational  proficiency  to  agree  vdth. 
his  standing  in  the  test.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  in  vocational  selection  and 
especially  in  vocational  guidance  such 
close  agreement  is  not  needed.  We 
need  to  know  the  probabihty  that  a 
certain  individual  can  succeed,  (that  is, 
reach  a  specified  level  of  proficiency) 
in  the  vocation.  Measures  of  correla- 
tion are  by  no  means  the  proper  instru- 
ments with  which  to  discover  this 
probabihty.  A  much  more  appro- 
priate technique  is  that  of  the  proba- 
bility table;'*  or  one  of  the  several 
methods  that  have  been  proposed  for 
determining  a  ''critical  score. "^ 

The    results    of   this   investigation 

•  Kitson,  H.  D.  The  Psychology  of 
Vocational  Adjustment.  Lippincott, 
Philadelphia,  1925.     Pp.  116-118. 

^  Link,  H.  C.  Employment  Psychology. 
Macmillan,  New  York      Pp.  44-45. 

Thurstone,  L.  L.  Mental  tests  for  col- 
lege entrance.  Journal  of  Educational 
Psychology,  March,  1919,  pp.  129-42. 

Bingham,  W.  V.,  and  Freyd,  M.  Pro- 
cedures in  Employment  Psj'chology.  A.  W . 
fShaw,  Chicago,  1926.  Pp.  182-1S4;  190-196; 
203-206. 


198 


Kitson:  Vocational  Aptitudes 


seem  to  show  that  the  sum  of  all  the 
tapping  movements  can  not  be  used  as 
prognostic  of  success  as  typist  or  as 
pianist,  at  least  not  for  predicting 
success  within  the  ranges  of  medium 
proficiency  where  most  workers  will 
lie.  Though  certain  ones  of  these 
tapping  movements  may  be  useful  in 
selecting  persons  who  may  develop 
extremely  high  proficiency,  even  they 
vnW  not  be  useful  in  predicting  success 
within  the  range  of  mediocrity  where 
most  workers  are.  We  suggested  that 
perhaps  this  is  a  phenomenon  generally 
true  of  so-called  "vocational"  tests, 
and  that  perhaps  we  ought  to  change 
our  conception  regarding  tests  for  vo- 
cational aptitude.  The  validity  of 
this  hypothesis  should  be  tested 
further.  Several  methods  might  be 
employed : 

1 .  Examine  other  vocational  groups, 
including  in  each  group  a  number  who 
have  shown  superlative  proficiency. 
For  example,  among  pianists,  include 
such  players  as  Bauer,  Hofmann, 
Godowsky,  and  the  like ;  compare  their 
scores  in  the  tests  with  scores  made  by 
pianists  of  moderate  ability;  and  then 
compare  all  with  the  scores  made  by 
unsclected  persons. 

2.  Use  the  order-of-mcrit  arrange- 
ment, including  workers  representing 
wide  ranges  of  vocational  proficiency 
and  see  if  the  correspondence  between 
proficiency  in  the  vocation  and  profi- 
ciency in  the  test  is  closer  at  the  ex- 
tremes than  it  is  in  the  middle  ranges. 

It  is  true  we  have  found  that  some  of 
the   tapping   movements  evoked   by 


this  test  seem  to  be  slightly  associated 
with  some  of  the  specific  vocational 
abilities  possessed  among  the  subjects 
but  this  association  should  be  seen  in 
the  fight  of  two  facts :  first,  the  associa- 
tion is  just  barely  significant  and,  on 
this  narrow  margin,  could  not  defensi- 
bly  be  used  in  deciding  the  vocational 
futures  of  individuals. 

Second,  since  scarcely  more  than 
half  of  the  vocational  subjects  made 
scores  in  the  test  above  the  average 
score  made  by  unselected  persons,  the 
rest  scored  below  this  mark.  In  spite 
of  this  fact  the  latter  were  able  to  earn 
a  Hving  in  their  vocation.  The  writer 
is  inclined  to  propose  as  a  hypothesis 
that  50  per  cent  of  the  population  can 
succeed  with  a  50  percentile  degree  of 
success  in  50  per  cent  of  the  occu- 
pations. 

These  results  indicate  that  investi- 
gators who  are  interested  in  establish- 
ing the  serviceability  of  tests  for 
vocational  selection  and  especially 
vocational  guidance,  would  do  well  to 
change  their  technique  (which  has 
developed  into  almost  a  fetish)  and 
compare  the  standings  of  their  voca- 
tional groups  with  the  standings  of 
persons  who  are  non-selected.  In 
which  case  they  might  demonstrate 
that  while  certain  tests  serve  to  indi- 
cate persons  who  might  succeed  in  a 
superlative  degree,  they  would  not  at 
all  select  those  persons  who  might 
succeed  in  those  moderate  degrees 
where  most  workers  are  necessarily 
found. 

{Manuscript  received  April  4,  1927.) 


A  Test  to  Gauge  Business  Knowledge 

By  E.  D.  Bartlett,  Atlantic  Refining  Company 

A  psychological  test  for  business  use,  devised  by  business  men 
with  psychological  training,  may  be  expected  to  be  at  once  sound 
and  practical.  It  will  certainly  avoid  the  ludicrous  features 
which  have  often  crept  into  intelligence  tests  like  Army  Alpha, 
and  which,  no  matter  how  entertaining,  tend  to  prejudice  the 
applicant  against  the  test,  and  against  the  firm  which  uses  it. 

The  author  describes  some  of  the  steps  taken  in  the  development 
of  a  business  intelhgence  test  now  being  used  by  a  large  oil  company 
as  an  aid  in  the  selection  of  employees  to  fill  supervisory  and  other 
positions  of  responsibiUty.  It  is  not  used  in  the  selection  of  salesmen 
and  technical  men,  except  in  rare  instances. 

One  hundred  problems  arranged  in  spiral  omnibus  form,  include 
20  in  business  arithmetic,  30  in  business  information,  20  in  business 
judgment,  and  30  in  business  vocabulary.  No  time  limit  is  set.  An 
hour  and  a  half  is  required  on  the  average. 

The  revised  test  has  been  in  use  for  approximately  a  year.  Using 
the  combined  judgments  of  two  experienced  raters  as  a  criterion,  a 
correlation  was  found  of  +0.79.  The  correlation  between  the  test 
scores  and  salaries  was  +0,37. 


THE  Army  "Alpha"  is  probably 
the  best  general  intelhgence 
test  for  adults  so  far  devised. 
It  gives,  without  question,  a  good  pic- 
ture of  the  intelhgence  of  the  person 
examined.  For  use  in  industry,  how- 
ever, it  has  several  drawbacks,  which 
seriously  mihtate  against  its  success. 
In  the  first  place,  it  requires  the  com- 
plete attention  of  the  examiner.  In 
the  second  place,  of  the  eight  sections 
into  which  the  test  is  divided.  Part 
7  (Analogies)  and  Part  6  (Number 
completion)  are  somewhat  difficult  of 
comprehension,  even  on  the  part  of 
some  individuals  of  more  than  average 
intelhgence.     Parts  4  and  5  are  the 


"Right  or  Wrong"  type,  in  which 
chance  so  frequently  distorts  the  re- 
sults. Last  of  all,  for  purposes  of  busi- 
ness apphcation  at  least,  there  is  an 
unbusinesshke  appearance  to  the  test 
that  frequently  prejudices  the  person 
under  examination,  not  only  against 
the  test  but  against  the  company  using 
it. 

In  devising  a  test  for  gauging  busi- 
ness knowledge,  therefore,  we  first  of 
all  aimed  at  a  format  that  would  im- 
press as  being  businesshke.^    Second, 

1  Business  Test  "Q"  was  devised  by  the 
writer  in  association  with  Mr.  E.  J.  Benge, 
now  with  Mitten  Management,  Inc., 
formerly  Industrial  Relations  Manager  of 


199 


200 


Bartlett  : 


Test  to  Gauge  Business  Knowledge 


we  adopted  the  omnibus  form  of  test 
for  reasons  of  economy  in  application. 
Third,  we  eliminated  from  considera- 
tion all  forms  of  test  which  seemed 
difficult  of  comprehension  or  in  which 
the  nervousness  of  the  individual  ex- 
amined would  prove  a  serious  handi- 
cap. 

After  considerable  study  and  the 
examination  of  every  test  we  could 
get  our  hands  on,  we  decided  upon  five 
different  types  of  question  (see  illus- 
tration) . 

Type  "A"  comprised  10  questions  in 
Business  Arithmetic.  We  already  had 
a  very  successful  test  of  routine  mathe- 
matical ability  so  that  it  was  unneces- 
sary to  make  our  problems  difficult 
from  the  view  point  of  multiplication, 
division,  etc.,  all  our  efforts  being 
directed  towards  obtaining  problems 
in  which  the  difficulty  would  rest  in 
the  method  of  solution,  the  actual 
calculations  being  made  rather  easy. 
Every  problem  demanded  some  knowl- 
edge of  business  practice  and  no  ques- 
tions were  asked  which  an  executive 
might  not  have  to  answer. 

Type  "B"  comprised  20  questions 
on  Business  Information.  Four  pos- 
sible answers  were  given  to  each 
question,  thus  reducing  the  likelihood 
of  guesswork  to  a  minimum.  The 
questions  covered  the  entire  range  of 
business  information,  such  as  com- 
merce, business  law,  accounting  (non- 
technical), etc. 

The  Atlantic  Refining  Company,  and  Mr. 
John  W.  Cooper,  Universit}'^  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  revision  (Business  Test  "R") 
was  made  by  the  writer  in  association  with 
Mr.  D.  F.  Pomeroy,  Jr.,  Assistant  Office 
Personnel  Director,  The  Atlantic  Refining 
Company. 


Tj'^pe  "C"  comprised  15  questions 
and  was  a  gauge  of  Business  Judgment. 
Here  again  the  possibility  of  guesswork 
was  minimized  by  the  use  of  the  mul- 
tiple choice  style  of  problem  and  every 
effort  was  made  to  have  the  questions 
possible  of  logical  solution,  provided 
the  individual  was  fairly  well  informed 
on  economics. 

Type  "D,"  Vocabulary,  had  20 
questions.  We  were  unfortunate  in 
not  being  able  to  get  20  pairs  of  asso- 
ciated business  words,  suitable  for  the 
test,  and  were,  therefore,  compelled 
to  some  extent  to  desert  our  "business 
dress." 

Type  "E"  was  made  up  of  10  prob- 
lems intended  as  a  measure  of  the 
applicant's  knowledge  of  business  prin- 
ciples. It  consisted  of  a  series  of 
paragraphs,  descriptive  of  some  situa- 
tion occurring  in  business.  The  appli- 
cant was  given  a  list  of  twenty  prin- 
ciples such  as,  "Health  and  efficiency 
go  hand  in  hand,"  "Often  more  method 
is  needed  rather  than  more  men," 
etc.,  and  was  asked  to  select  the  princi- 
ple that  seemed  best  to  apply  against 
the  particular  situation. 

The  entire  examination,  which  we 
called  Business  Test  "Q,"  totaled  75 
questions.  It  was  put  into  use  about 
three  years  ago.  After  giving  it  to 
approximately  200  persons,  we  at- 
tempted to  check  our  results.  We 
discovered  that  those  making  high 
scores  in  "Q"  invariably  make  high 
scores  in  Army  Alpha.  The  opposite, 
however,  was  not  always  true  as  occa- 
sionally some  one  would  make  a  high 
score  in  Alpha  and  only  a  fair  score  in 
"Q."  As  this  latter  condition  oc- 
curred only  in  the  cases  of  those  who 
lacked  business  back  ground,  we  did 


NAME....... 


DATE....-.- 


BUSINESS   TEST  "Q^' 


A     :     !i     ;     C     1    D     1     E 

Total 

No. 
Tr.«i 

]                      j 

Vo. 
Right 

1 
i 

i           1 
j           1 

.^ccy 

INSTRUCTIONS 

Print  your  name  (last  name  first)  on  the  line  at  top  of  page  and  fill  in  the  date. 

This  is  a  page  of  instructions  only.  Read  it  slowly  and  carefully.  Be  sure  that  you  understand  these 
instructions  before  you  turn  over  to  the  next  page.    Don't  turn  over  until  you  are  told  to  do  so. 

Within  this  folder  there  are  five  types  of  problem: 

Ti'PE  "A"— BUSINESS  ARITHMETIC— Example: 

Bennett's  motorcar  uses  one  gallon  of  gasoline  for  every  t^venty  miles.     How  far  can  he  travel  on 

3^  gallons?    Answer miles. 

You  are  to  solve  the  problem,  using  the  margins  for  any  figuring  necessary,  and  insert  the  correct  answer 
in  the  space  provided.    Please  insert  the  correct  answer  above. 

TYPE  "B"— BUSINESS  INFORMATION— Example: 

Chicago  is  in        ILLINOIS        MISSISSIPPI        MAINE        OHIO 

In  this  type  of  problem  you  are  to  underline  the  one  of  the  four  words  in  capital  letters  which  makes 
the  most  correct  sentence.     Please  underline  the  correct  word  above. 

TYPE  "C— BUSINESS  JUDGMENT— Example: 

Typewriters  have  supplanted  the  pen  in  writing  business  letters  because: 
(        )  They  cost  less. 

(        )   More  people  can  use  them  than  can  use  the  pen. 
(        )  They  save  labor  and  time. 
(        )   They  look  businesslike. 

In  this  tj-ps  oi  problem  you  are  given  a  statement  with  four  possible  answers.  You  are  to  check  the  one 
answer  which  is  most  logically  correct.     Please  check  the  correct  snsv.er  in  the  problem  given  above. 

TY?E  "D"— VOCABULARY— Example: 

BANTER        BARTER        EXCIDE        EXCHANGE 

In  this  type  of  problem  you  arc  given  four  words,  of  which  two  are  closely  related  in  meaning.  These 
two  words  are  to  be  underlined.  Please  underscore  the  two  correct  words  above.  Be  sure  to  underscore  only 
the  two  words  most  nearly  related  in  meaning. 

TYPE  "E— BUSINESS  PRINCIPLES— Example: 

A  gang  of  workmen  learned  how  much  their  foreman  received.  Thereafter  the  foreman  was  unable  to 
control  his  men.  The  plant  manager  reprimanded  the  workers,  but  they  replied,  'AVhy  should  we  listen  to 
him?     He  doesn't  make  as  much  as  we  do." 

Principle  V" 

In  the  above  t>'pe  of  problem  you  are  given  a  short  description  of  a  business  situation.  You  are  also 
handed  a  sheet  vWth  a  number  of  business  principles  printed  on  it.  From  this  list  of  principles  you  are  to  select 
the  one  principle  which  applies  most  logically  to  a  correct  handling  of  the  situation  given  you.  All  facts  neces- 
sary to  the  correct  solving  of  each  problem  are  given  in  the  situation  as  stated.  Now  from  the  sample  list  of 
prindples  given  you,  select  the  best  answer  to  the  situation  above.  Always  write  in  the  principle  number  and 
do  not  attempt  to  copy  the  principle  itself.  \Vhen  you  turn  over  the  page,  another  list  of  principles  will  be 
given  you,  from  which  you  are  to  .inswer  the  Type  "E"  problems  in  the  test  proper. 

WTien  you  turn  over,  answer  the  questions  in  r,rdcr.  This  is  important,  as  you  receive  maximum  credit 
by  answering  problems  in  seqwnce.  Don't  skip  any  problems  unless  you  are  certain  that  you  can't  do  them. 
Work  rapidly  but  as  accurately  as  possible.  '\'ou  may  refer  back  to  these  instructions  if  necessary.  Do  not 
ask  any  questions  after  you  have  once  turned  over  the  page. 

DON  T  TURN  OVER— NOTIFY  THE  EXAMINER  THAT  YOU  ARE  READY. 

[11 
Copyright  1927,  by  The  Atl.^n'tic  Refining  Company 
pvbucation  or  quotation  prohibited  to  pre\'ent  invalidation 

Instruction  Sheet  for  Business  Test  "Q" 
201 


202 


Bartlett:  Test  to  Gauge  Business  Knowledge 


not  consider  it  a  drawback  but  rather 
an  advantage. 

Intercorrelations  between  the  vari- 
ous types  of  questions  are  shown  in 
table  1.  With  the  single  exception  of 
the  type  "E"  problems,  the  coeffici- 
ents of  correlation  were  fairly  high 
although  not  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
indicate  that  any  two  types  were  gaug- 
ing the  same  abilities.  "E,"  however, 
had  a  very  low  correlation,  not  only 
with  the  other  individual  types,  but 
also  with  the  total  score.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  we  were  never  able  to  discover 
any   criterion   with   which    "E"   had 


problems,  in  "A"  especially,  was  so 
small  that  a  difference  of  one  in  the 
number  right  made  too  great  a  differ- 
ence in  the  percentile  values.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  reasons  already  stated, 
many  of  the  vocabulary  problems  had 
a  far  from  business-hke  aspect,  while 
some  of  the  other  problems  were  either 
far  too  easy  or  far  too  difficult.  It  was 
therefore  felt  wise  to  revise  the  entire 
test. 

The  new  test,  "R,"  was  composed 
of  100  problems:  20  of  type  "A," 
Business  Arithmetic;  30  of  type  "B," 
Business    Information;    20    of    type 


TABLE  1 


Intercorrelations  between  the  different  types  of  problems  in  Business  Test  "Q"  {97  cases) 


TYPES 

TOTAL 

A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

A.  Arithmetic 

0.63 
0.66 
0.67 
0.34 

0.63 

0.64 
0.71 
0.28 

0.66 
0.64 

0.56 
0.14 

0.67 
0.71 
0.56 

0.36 

0.34 

0.28 
0.14 
0.36 

0.80 

B.  Information 

0.88 

C.  Judgment 

0.79 

D  Vocabulary          

0.83 

E.  Principles     

0.37 

Total 

0.80 

0.88 

0.79 

0.83 

0.37 



anything  but  a  low  correlation.  We 
finally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
fault  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  appUcant, 
in  answering  this  type  of  question, 
was  influenced  more  by  what  he 
thought  we  wished  him  to  say  than 
by  his  own  personal  opinion.  This 
is  probably  the  answer,  particularly 
as  many  of  the  questions  dealt  with 
business  ethics  and  company  pohcies, 
in  discussing  which  the  apphcant 
might  very  possibly  have  felt  he  was 
jeopardising  his  chances  of  employ- 
ment if  he  conunitted  himself  too 
freely. 

We  also  found  that  the  number  of 


"C,"  Business  Judgment;  and  30  of 
type  "D,"  Business  Vocabulary.  As 
far  as  possible,  the  problems  were 
ranked  in  order  of  difficulty,  and  ques- 
tions in  the  "Q"  test  were  replaced 
wherever  there  was  any  doubt  as  to 
the  fairness  of  the  question,  where  the 
answer  was  too  easy  or  too  difficult, 
or  where  there  was  no  close  business 
connection.  Type  "E"  was  elimi- 
nated entirely. 

We  had  had  some  idea  of  making 
test  "Q"  a  time  test.  In  the  revision 
we  discarded  this  idea  altogether  and 
make  no  attempt  to  time  the  applicant . 
A  check  has  been  kept,  however,  on 


Bartlett:  Test  to  Gauge  Business  Knowledge 


203 


time  required  to  complete  the  test  and 
we  find  it  to  average  about  1|  hours. 
Some  have  finished  in  40  minutes 
while  one  or  two  have  taken  as  long  as 
5  hours. 

Test  "R"  has  now  been  in  use  for 
about  a  year.  While  we  have  not  yet 
had  sufficient  cases  upon  which  to 
base  a  really  extensive  checking  up, 
what  information  we  have  points  to 
the  fact  that  we  have  an  exception- 
ally accurate  gauge  of  business  knowl- 
edge. 

Correlations  were  computed  on  fifty 
cases  (all  that  we  had  at  the  time)  of 
persons  who  had  taken  the  test  and 
who  could  be  rated  efficiently.  On 
the  basis  of  the  department  head's 
opinion,  plus  careful  investigation  by 
the  Personnel  Department,  these  indi- 
viduals were  given  quantitative  ratings 
upon  their  business  knowledge.  This 
rating  was  done  by  two  members  of 
the  Personnel  Department  working 
together  and  without  knowledge  of  the 
test  results.  As  both  the  raters  have 
had  a  great  deal  of  experience  in  rat- 
ing, the  judgments  are  probably  as 
accurate  as  can  be  obtained  by  this 
method.  The  factors  of  personalitj'', 
initiative,  length  of  sei-vice,  position 
held,  etc.,  were  ignored,  the  only 
factors  considered  being  those  bearing 
upon  the  indi^ddua^s  general  business 
knowledge.  The  coefficient  of  cor- 
relation (Pearson  method)  between 
the  ratings  and  total  test  scores  was 
+0.79.  A  careful  after-examination 
of  the  variables  leads  us  to  believe 
that,  in  those  cases  which  tended  to 
lower  the  coefficient,  the  fault  was  in 
the  rating  and  not  because  the  test 
gave  the  wrong  picture. 

The    coefficient   of   correlation   be- 


tween total  test  scores  and  salaries 
was  +0.37.  This  is  as  high  as  we 
can  logically  expect,  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  length  of  service,  person- 
ality, etc.,  play  such  an  important 
part  in  salary  figures  and  that  they 
are,  of  course,  not  tested  for.  Even 
as  it  is,  however,  elimination  of  three 
cases  would  have  raised  the  coefficient 
to  more  than  +0.60.  All  in  all,  al- 
though the  number  of  cases  was  small, 
we  are  much  encouraged  with  the 
prophecy  they  give. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  compute 
intercorrelations  between  the  different 
types  of  questions  but  we  have  reason 
to  believe  that  the  results  would  be 
very  similar  to  those  obtained  in  the 
case  of  "Q".  We  have,  however, 
worked  out  percentile  tables  which 
show  the  relative  position  of  each 
person  taking  the  test. 

To  date  approximately  200  persons 
have  taken  the  "P*-"  test.  Everj^ 
question  has  been  answered  at  least 
10  times  and  every  question  has  been 
missed  at  least  10  times.  The  spread 
ranges  from  18  right  to  87  right. 
There  is  only  one  instance  where  all 
the  questions  of  a  particular  type  have 
been  answered  correctly  and  no  in- 
stances where  all  have  been  answered 
incorrectly. 

Due  to  the  fact  that  the  questions 
cover  a  wide  range,  a  casual  examina- 
tion of  the  actual  problems  missed  or 
answered  frequently  gives  valuable 
information  as  to  the  indi\iduars  par- 
ticular strength  or  weakness.  We 
expect  later  to  classify  everj^  ciuestion 
under  separate  headings,  such  as  Ac- 
counting, Business  Law,  Business  Geog- 
raphy, Statistics,  Selling,  etc.  When 
this  is  completed  it  is  expected  that 


204  Bartlett:  Test  to  Gauge  Business  Knowledge 


the  test  will  yield  much  more  im- 
portant information  than  is  now 
available. 

We  give  the  test  to  those  applying 
for  positions  of  responsibiUty,  ac- 
countants (in  addition  to  our  account- 
ing test),  statisticians,  etc.  For  such 
positions  we  desire  a  college  education 
or  its  equivalent  so  that  more  than  half 
of  those  taking  the  test  have  been 
graduates  of  college,  usually  in  the 
accounting  or  business  administration 
courses.  The  highest  score  known  has 
been  made  by  a  man  without  college 
education  but  who  has  always  been  a 
close  student  of  conditions  in  the  busi- 
ness world.  While  several  other  high 
scores   have  likewise  been  made  by 


non-college  men,  the  majority  of  the 
high  scores  belong  to  those  who  have 
gone  farther  than  high  school. 

There  have  been  several  instances 
where  the  test  scores  did  not  agree 
with  the  scholastic  rating  but  we  have 
yet  to  find  an  instance  where  the  test 
score  did  not  compare  favorably  with 
the  individual's  ability  on  the  job — 
after  such  factors  as  personaUty, 
health,  honesty,  etc.,  have  been 
weighed  or  eliminated.  Taking  every- 
thing into  consideration,  we  are  con- 
vinced that  this  test  gives  us  an  accu- 
rate measurement  of  the  appUcant's 
general  business  intelhgence,  and  a 
fairly  accurate  idea  of  his  probable  line 
of  advancement. 


Book  Reviews 

VACATIONS  FOR  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS 

By  Charles  M.  Mills.    New  York:  The  Ronald  Press,  1927 
Pp.  328.    S5.00 

Reviewed  by  Leifur  Magnusson 


The  coupling  of  the  words  "labor  and 
leisure"  is  not  merely  a  pleasant  euphe- 
mism. In  a  measure,  it  represents  a  new 
philosophy  and  point  of  view  in  modern 
civilization.  The  older  conception  held  by 
civilization  almost  as  late  as  the  Twentieth 
Century  would  have  it  "leisure  versus 
labor."  Today  we  might  properly  write  it 
"labor  with  leisure."  Past  civilization 
rested  upon  leisure  and  privilege  for  a  few. 
The  dream  of  the  future  is  that  it  shall  rest 
upon  labor  and  leisure  for  all.  And  the 
mere  appearance  of  such  a  volume  as  this 
is  further  evidence  of  the  growing  oppor- 
tunity for  that  leisure  which  a  democratic 
culture  has  necessarily  brought  into  being. 
The  somewhat  pretentious  remarks  of  this 
first  paragraph  would  not,  I  imagine,  be 
claimed  by  the  author  of  this  book  as  giving 
an  accurate  forecast  of  its  intended  con- 
tents. The  volume  pretends  to  be  but  the 
beginning  of  things.  It  is  an  attempt  to 
do  fundamental  spade  work  in  bringing  to- 
gether the  underlying  facts  of  a  nascent 
movement.  The  author  himself  would,  I 
think,  admit  that  he  had  to  work  hard  to 
get  something  at  once  meaty  and  interesting 
out  of  the  subject  in  hand.  He  only  aimed, 
diligently  and  after  much  hard  work,  to 
bring  together  the  existing  information  as  to 
the  extent  to  which  employers  in  industry 
are  beginning  to  grant  vacations  to  wage 
earners  in  counter-distinction  to  the  more 
privileged  salaried  workers,  who  have  hith- 
erto come  first  for  receiving  such  privileges 
as  group  insurance  protection,  paid  vaca- 
tions, and  greater  freedom  in  the  disposal  of 
their  time. 


A  brief  running-through  of  the  contents  of 
the  volume  shows  that  it  is  made  up  of  three 
parts:  a  general  analysis  of  the  vacation 
movement;  its  specific  application  in  the 
United  States;  legislation  and  action  in 
other  (27)  countries  of  industrial  impor- 
tance. Within  this  framework,  the  book 
answers  the  questions:  What  has  been  the 
historical  development  of  the  vacation 
movement?  What  are  the  main  provisions 
of  plans  inaugurated?  and.  What  are  the 
social  and  economic  consequences  of  the 
vacation  movement?  The  answer  to  the 
second  question  bulks  largest,  and  is  the 
most  successful  feature  of  the  book.  For 
the  volume  is  intended  as  a  manual  for  em- 
ployers who  contemplate  introducing  ar- 
rangements into  their  plants  for  making 
possible  vacations  to  their  factory  staff,  the 
non-salaried,  or  day  workers.  The  whole  of 
Part  3  describes  the  vacation  situation  for 
industrial  workers  in  the  countries  named. 
Eighty-seven  pages  comprise  in  tabulated 
form  an  analysis  of  the  provisions  of  differ- 
ent vacation  plans,  as  conceived  either 
through  individual  action  of  employers, 
through  collective  agreements,  or  by  legis- 
lation; also,  some  statistical  tables.  A 
selected  bibliography  of  eight  pages  is 
followed  by  a  very  helpful  index.  The  vol- 
ume has,  then,  many  of  the  characteristics 
of  a  valuable  governmental  report — factual 
and  straightaway,  orderly  in  presentation, 
clearly  and  well  written,  without  any  claim 
to  literary  style. 

The  author's  treatment  of  the  historical 
genesis  of  the  movement,  and  of  its  social 
and  economic  results  is,  it  seems   to  me, 


205 


206 


Book  Reviews 


much  too  disjointed  and  sketchy,  not  fo- 
cussed  as  to  give  one  a  totality  of  impression 
as  to  what  is  the  drift  and  significance  of  it 
all.  However,  I  should  in  fairness  say  that 
the  major  purpose  of  the  volume  is  not  to 
expound  a  philosophy,  but  to  describe  a 
situation.  At  the  same  time,  I  think  we 
need  more  of  an  explanation  wh\  the  vaca- 
tion, leisure-time  movement  became  so 
significant  and  aggressive  in  Europe,  suffer- 
ing from  economic  depression  and  distress, 
as  well  as  in  the  United  States,  where  in- 
creasing wealth  and  opportunity  naturally 
have  made  for  an  active  interest.  Two 
separate  explanations  must  be  given  for 
these  differences.  Again,  the  change  to  a 
recognition  of  leisure  for  the  worker  bids 
fair  to  become  permanent  in  Europe,  be- 
cause it  is  being  fixed  in  legislation  and 
collective  agreements  of  employer  and 
worker,  whereas  in  the  United  States  it 
rests  altogether  upon  the  emploj'er  and  the 
prosperity  of  his  business  venture.  It  is 
not  only  true,  as  the  author  says,  that  "the 
whole  procedure  was  one  of  individual  be- 
neficence on  the  part  of  the  employer"  in  its 
origin,  but  remains  almost  wholly  so  to- 
day as  far  as  American  industry  is  con- 
cerned. There  is  only  the  offset  that  the 
business  venture  is  becoming  increasingly 
institutionalized,  and  hence  more  likely  to 
endure.  One  might  almost  say  that  the 
condition  for  the  success  of  the  workers' 
vacation  movement  is  stabilizing  employ- 
ment,  and  giving  wages  the  character  of 


salary.     But  from  that  goal  we  are  probably 
still  as  far  as  from  Tipperary. 

Regarding  the  economic  and  social  con- 
sequences of  industrial  vacations,  we  have 
yet  to  know  the  outcome.  One  may  well 
raise  the  question,  whether  vacations  shall 
wait  on  production?  Did  they  in  the  case 
of  salaried  workers?  Shall  they  wait  on 
determination  of  the  use  the  workers  make 
of  them  so  far  as  they  get  them?  Did  so- 
ciety determine  whether  the  wealthy  and 
well-to-do  had  vacations  because  some  in- 
dulged in  riotou.s  lieach-resort  living?  Why 
not  put  the  justification  of  vacations  for 
workers  on  the  ground  of  the  killing  mo- 
notony of  practically  all  industrial  proces- 
ses as  such,  and  on  the  ground  that  society 
should  harbour  no  privileges  or  discrimi- 
nations as  respect  any  members  of  its 
community?  However,  these  are  questions 
which  the  author  did  not  aim  to  answer, 
though  in  his  partial  answer  to  them,  I  have 
the  feeling  that  he  assumes  answers  gen- 
erally contrary  to  what  my  questions  imply. 
But  I  should  not  for  that  reason  criticize  a 
book  which  is  otherwise  a  good  piece  of  re- 
search in  an  unplowed  field — one  that  has 
done  a  bit  of  plowing  which  has  left  the  field 
mellower  and  more  fruitfvil  than  it  was  in  its 
fallow  stage.  Industrial  Relations  Coun- 
selors, Inc.,  who  sponsor  the  volume,  sensed 
well  the  need  of  this  study,  and  staked  their 
good  judgment  on  there  being  a  demand  for 
the  information  contained  in  it. 


AN  EXPERIMENTAL  INVESTIGATION  OF  RECOVERY  FROM  WORK 

By  S.  L.  Crawley,  Ph.D.     Neiv  York:  Archives  of  Psy- 
chology, No.  So,  October,  1926 

Reviewed  by  Walter  N.  Polakov 


The  subject  of  fatigue  elimination  has 
occupied  the  minds  of  engineers  for  two 
score  of  years.  Theirs  was  a  mechanistic 
point  of  view,  motivated  by  the  desire  to 
secure  maximum  production  with  minimum 
waste  of  human  energy.  From  the  begin- 
ning of  the.se  studies  it  became  obvious  that 
fatigue  may  be  the  result  of  useless  work  as 
well  as  of  useful  work.     Needless  motions 


and  operations  were  to  be  eliminated  to 
reduce  needless  fatigue  and  much  has  been 
done  in  this  direction.  Yet  the  fatigue 
caused  by  useful  work  was  not  regarded  as 
an  inevitable  evil,  any  more  than  excessive 
friction  of  any  mechanical  moving  parts. 
The  job  was  to  reduce  this  friction  during 
the  useful  operations.  Extensive  studies 
and  elaborate  developments  in  this  direc- 


Book  Reviews 


207 


tion  succeeded  in  a  large  measure  to  increase 
the  productivity  of  labor  by  frequent  rest 
intervals,  by  simplification  of  motions,  bj'^ 
training,  by  employment  of  jigs,  templates, 
special  tools,  conveniently  located  racks, 
trays,  etc.  Then  it  became  equally  obvious 
that  mental  attitude  toward  the  work  has  a 
great  deal  to  do  both  with  the  release  of 
work  and  with  the  speed  of  recovery.  Com- 
petitive records,  sporting  competition, 
Gantt  charts,  bonus  systems,  attempts  to 
make  work  fascinating,  etc.,  were  tried  in  a 
great  many  industrial  establishments,  often 
with  astonishing  results. 

These  "positive  effects  in  industry  ob- 
tained through  the  role  of  introduced 
incentives",  observes  Mr.  Crawley,  in 
agreement  with  H.  D.  Kitson,  were  not  due 
to  any  ethereal  qualities  on  the  part  of  the 
incentives,  "but  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
worker  had  previously  been  performing  at 
such  a  low  state  of  possible  performance 
that  any  increase  change  would  bring  about 
practically  no  katabolic  process  that  could 
not  be  compensated  for  almost  immedi- 
ately." 

In  the  early  nineties  several  important 
physiological  researches  on  fatigue  were 
made;  during  the  stress  imposed  by 
the  World  War  upon  the  industry,  both 
physiological  and  psychological  tests  and 
researches  were  made  by  numerous  ex- 
perimentors  and  by  now  the  literature  on 
the  subject  is  at  once  large,  contradictory, 
and  inconclusive. 

The  present  reviewer,  in  his  paper  before 
the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  December  3,  1925, 
called  attention  to  the  deplorable  short- 
coming of  many  laboratory  experiments  on 
fatigue,  which  did  not  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  in  shop  work  the  character  of  the 
operations  usually  provides  cyclic  relaxa- 
tion. Again,  in  his  previous  paper  before 
the  same  society,  the  effects  of  interest  in- 
jected into  the  work  by  visual  record  of 
performance  on  the  increased  efficiency  of 
operation  were  asserted  from  actual  factory 
records. 

The  work  of  S.  L.  Crawley,  carefully 
organized  and  conducted  in  the  Department 
of  Psychology  of  Indiana  University,  fur- 
nishes important  laboratory  data,  taking 


into  account  both  of  the  above  mentioned 
factors. 

Fatigue,  defined  as  a  process  tending  to 
diminish  the  output  of  muscular  energy  of  a 
man  considered  as  a  whole,  has  been  pro- 
duced in  these  experiments  by  means  of 
exerting  groups  of  muscles  of  arms  and  legs 
of  four  volunteers.  Experiments  involved 
pairs  of  performances  interspersed  by  either 
two  or  four  minutes  rest-intervals. 
Weights  lifted  were  varied  in  different  tests 
from  10  to  40  pounds,  but  the  rhythm  of 
motions  remained  at  60  beats  of  the  metro- 
nome for  the  arm  and  72  for  the  leg  experi- 
ments. Series  of  tests  were  made  with  and 
without  ificentives,  these  being  of  the  nature 
of  self-competition  offered  by  watching 
one's  own  record  during  the  performance 
and  also  with  the  extreme  goal  visible  (task 
set). 

From  this  brief  hint  at  the  arrangement 
of  Crawley's  experiments,  the  significance 
of  results  for  understanding  of  situations 
actually  arising  daily  in  industry  is  at  once 
apparent. 

One  of  the  most  striking  demonstrations 
in  his  investigation  was  the  dependence  on 
the  part  of  the  second  work  period  upon  the 
amount  of  work  produced  in  the  first  work 
period,  whether  separated  by  two-  or  four- 
minute  rest  interval.  This  has  been 
generally  ignored  in  the  industrial  manage- 
ment material  and  it  would  be  highly  desir- 
able to  continue  similar  investigations  in  a 
larger  variety  of  cyclic  operations.  It 
appears  that  more  work  is  accomplished  in 
the  first  work  period  with  the  light  weights 
and  less  with  the  heavy  weights  than  in  the 
second  period,  but,  in  the  words  of  Mr. 
Crawley,  "the  axiom  holds  true,  that  the 
greater  the  amount  of  work  done  in  the  first 
period,  the  smaller  the  amount  of  work  done 
in  the  second"  (p.  49). 

Another  significant  conclusion  reached 
by  Crawley  is  that  "recovery  effects  for  the 
heavy  weights  seemed  more  rapid  than  for 
those  of  the  light  weights,"  yet,  "when  the 
point  of  complete  fatigue  is  reached,  with 
any  one  task,  the  muscle  is  still  capable  of 
doing  work,  i.e.,  external  work,  if  we  replace 
the  heavy  load  by  a  lighter  one." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  effect  of 
series  of  work  and  rest  intervals  were  not 


208 


Book  Reviews 


included  in  his  experiments,  extending  over 
the  period  of  the  average  work  day,  to  show 
the  required  length  of  rest  periods  and  their 
increased  frequency  for  uniformly  gradual 
recovery  from  work  during  a  day,  a  week,  a 
3'ear,  etc.  Let  us  hope  that  Mr.  Crawley 
or  other  experimenters  w^ill  undertake  the 
study  with  laboratory  precision  of  problems 
which  this  reviewer  described  in  his  "Mas- 
tering Power  Production,"  page  170  and 
figure  71. 

Perhaps  more  important  are  Mr. 
Crawley's  definite  findings  concerning  the 
effect  of  incentives.  In  the  case  of  self- 
competition  and  visible  performance,  most 
positively  greater  amounts  of  work  were 
produced  by  subjects  so  stimulated.  But 
the  extra  e.xertion  of  the  subject  in  the  com- 
petition series  showed  itself  in  diminished 
output  in  the  second  work  period,  even 
when  this  later  period  followed  a  four- 
minute  rest.  The  extra  work  produced  by 
the  incentive  called  for  greater  time  for 
recovery.  Unfortunately,  however,  the 
experiments  did  not  cover  the  question 
"how  much  longer  recovery  from  work 
stimulated  by  incentive  is  needed,"  and 
what  is  the  ratio  of  output  to  rest  in  both 
cases  with  and  without  the  incentive. 


This  latter  conclusion  seems  to  upset  the 
heretofore  unchallenged  assertions  of  W.  R. 
Wright  (Psychol.  Review,  1906)  that  in- 
centive will  produce  more  work  with  less 
fatigue.  Indeed  a  statement  of  this  sort 
apparently  postulates  the  possibility  of 
getting  something  for  nothing  or  else  allows 
a  suspicion  that  "fatigue"  in  \Vright's 
case  was  psuedo-fatigue  due  to  interference 
of  some  doctrine  antagonistic  to  perform- 
ance of  a  given  task,  monotony,  boredom, 
distracted  attention  or  any  other  factor  or 
factors  of  this  class.  These  psychic  inter- 
ferences being  removed,  work  made  "fas- 
cinating," a  large  increase  in  work  output 
is  possible  before  the  true  fatigue  becomes 
apparent  and  measurable  by  the  accumula- 
tion of  lactic  acid  due  to  oxygen  debt. 

Mr.  Crawley's  monograph  is  a  valuable 
contribution  to  the  archives  of  fatigue 
studies.  Its  main  virtue  is  the  novelty  of 
the  laboratory  task  arrangement  but  the 
presentation  lacks  in  logical  coherence, 
clarity  of  exposition  and  adequacy  of 
graphs.  Whatever  can  be  said,  can  be  said 
clearly,  even  though  at  the  expense  of  in- 
creased period  necessary  for  the  recovery 
from  such  work. 


MEASURING  MOTOR  ABILITY 

By  David  K.  Brace.    New  York:  A.  S.  Barnes  and  Com- 
pany, 1927.     Pp.  138 

Reviewed  by  M.\x  Freyd 


The  tests  described  by  Dr.  Brace  repre- 
sent a  new  departure  in  psychological  test- 
ing, not  in  regard  to  method,  but  in  regard 
to  the  field  of  activity  measured.  The 
Scale  of  Motor  Ability  Tests  is  for  use,  not 
in  measuring  mechanical  ability  as  one 
might  be  led  to  believe,  but  in  measuring 
the  abilities  which  are  brought  into  play  in 
courses  in  physical  education. 

In  selecting  his  tests  the  author  has  tried 
to  test  native  ability  rather  than  acquired 
ability,  a  variety  of  types  of  reactions 
rather  than  one.  He  has  tried  to  make  his 
tests  easy  to  give  and  to  score, — they  re- 
quire no  equipment  other  than  pencils  and 


scoring  blanks,  they  are  scored  simply  as 
"success"  or  "failure,"  and  they  can  be 
given  individually  or  to  a  group. 

Two  forms  of  equal  difficulty  are  pro- 
vided, each  containing  ten  tests  arranged 
in  order  of  difficulty.  Some  test  examples 
from  one  of  the  forms  are  given  below : 

"Test  1.  Walk  in  a  straight  line,  placing 
the  heel  of  one  foot  in  front  of  and  against 
the  toe  of  the  other  foot.  Start  with  the 
left  foot.  Take  10  steps  in  all,  5  with  each 
foot.    Eyes  open." 

"Test  2.  Stand  Jump  into  the  air  and 
clap  both  feet  together  once,  and  land  with 
the  feet  apart  (aay  distance)." 


Book  Reviews 


209 


"Test  9.  Stand  on  the  right  foot. 
Grasp  the  left  foot  behind  the  right  knee. 
Bend  and  touch  the  left  knee  to  the  floor, 
and  stand  up  without  touching  any  other 
part  of  the  body  to  the  floor,  or  losing  the 
balance." 

"Test  10.  Hold  the  toes  of  either  foot 
in  the  opposite  hand.  Jump  up  and  jump 
the  free  foot  over  the  foot  that  is  held,  with- 
out letting  go." 

The  instructions  for  giving  the  tests  are 
illustrated  by  photographs;  instructions  for 
scoring  the  tests  and  norms  of  performance 
are  also  given. 

The  author  answers  in  detail  questions 
regarding  the  validity  and  reliability  of 
these  tests.  Correlations  with  ratings  on 
motor  ability  range  around  0.60,  and  with 
the  sum  of  scores  in  a  variety  of  athletic 
events  (Decathlon)  around  0.80.  Reliabil- 
ity coefficients  range  from  0.66  to  0.90.  The 
test  correlates  0.18  and  0.22  with  age,  0.045 
and  —0.111  with  weight,  and  —0.15  and 
—0.16  with  scores  in  an  intelligence  test. 

The  author  suggests  the  following  appli- 
cations for  the  tests : 

"Use  of  the  Motor  Ability  score  as  a 


basis  for  measuring  accomplishment  in 
physical  education. 

"Use  of  Motor  Ability  score  for  purposes 
of  classification  for  physical  education  class 
work. 

"Possible  use  for  diagnosing  special  per- 
formance disabilities  in  physical  education. 

"As  a  basis  for  assisting  in  equating 
groups  for  experimental  studies  in  physical 
education. 

"As  a  basis  for  experimental  studies  re- 
lating to  the  effect  or  value  of  various  types 
of  physical  education  activities  in  improv- 
ing Motor  Ability. 

"As  a  criterion  for  evaluating  other  tests 
of  Motor  Ability  which  may  be  proposed  by 
other  investigations." 

The  tests  should  prove  of  use  to  devotees 
of  the  daily  dozen,  Turkish  baths,  or  strict 
athletic  regimens.  They  may  be  used  to 
measure  improvement  after  instruction  in 
posture,  bearing,  or  dancing. 

The  book  is  a  pleasure  to  read.  The  au- 
thor's material  is  boiled  down  to  scientific 
and  practical  essentials,  and  is  concisely 
presented.  Methods  and  results  are  easily 
located,  and  convenient  summaries  accom- 
pany each  chapter. 


SECURING  EMPLOYMENT  FOR  THE  HANDICAPPED 

By  Mary  La  Dame.    New  York:  Welfare  Council  of  New 
York  City,  1927.     Pp.  133 

Reviewed  by  Bryce  M.  Stewart 


The  pronouncement  "Happy  is  the  man 
who  has  found  his  work"  must  be  especially 
true  of  the  handicapped  man  and  the  re- 
sponsibility of  those  helping  him  is  corre- 
spondingly great.  Four  agencies  doing 
placement  work  for  the  handicapped  in 
New  York,  imbued  with  a  sense  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  task,  requested  the  De- 
partment of  Industrial  Studies  of  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation  to  study  their 
experience  in  order  to  provide  a  factual 
basis  for  a  more  effective  organization  of 
this  service.  This  excellent  report  from 
the  competent  hand  of  Mary  La  Dame  of 
the  Sage  Foimdation  is  the  outcome. 

Twelve  different  agencies  of  New  York 


have  been  doing  placement  work  for  the 
mentally  and  physically  handicapped  and 
in  1925  their  expenditures  exceeded  .$100,000. 
One  group  of  agencies  is  entirely  concerned 
with  the  placement  of  handicapped  workers. 
In  another  group  are  the  placement  services 
of  three  agencies  doing  family  case  work. 
A  third  group  of  two  agencies  participates 
in  this  service  only  incidentally.  It  is  es- 
timated on  the  basis  of  statistics  given  in  an 
appendix  that  more  than  1000  handicapped 
persons  seek  employment  through  these 
agencies  monthly.  Despite  these  facilities 
the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  orthopedic 
cases  among  women  and  girls,  mental  cases 
among  men  and  boys,  the  formerly  tuber- 


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Book  Reviews 


c'ulovis,  and  other  groups  of  handicapped 
persons,  at  least  in  Manhattan,  are  not  ade- 
quately provided  for. 

The  report  concludes  with  a  statement  of 
"outstanding  facts"  which  affords  a  con- 
venient summary.  Duplication  of  effort 
exists  in  the  type  of  handicapped  applicant 
served  by  a  number  of  agencies;  the  various 
agencies  solicit  the  same  employers  for  jobs; 
there  should  be  some  analyses  as  to  the 
qualifications  for  placement  workers  and 
salary  standards  should  be  established; 
administrative  ability  of  considerable  cali- 
bre is  required;  there  is  a  surprising  lack  of 
information  as  to  the  purpose  and  scope  of 
the  work;  an  advisory  committee  on  which 
employers  are  represented  can  be  of  great 
assistance  in  winning  cooperation  of  em- 
ployers and  promoting  placement  work  for 
the  handicapped  generally;  the  agencies 
need  some  scheme  of  cooperation  between 
themselves  and  hospital  clinics  and  social 
agencies;  diagnosis  of  the  applicant's  con- 
dition, which  is  not  always  secured,  is  ab- 
solutely essential  for  intelligent  placement 
work;  adequate  service  to  applicants  or 
employers  requires  keeping  in  touch  with 
applicants  after  placement;  agreement  on 
terminology,  forms  and  record  keeping  is 
needed;  the  maintenance  of  separate  agen- 
cies for  particular  tj^pes  of  handicapped 
persons  does  not  seem  justified;  it  does  not 


seem  feasible  for  organizations  disbursing 
material  relief  to  operate  placement  service 
for  the  handicapped  or  any  other  group. 

It  appears  from  a  brief  section  entitled 
"Difficulties  of  the  Agenices"  that  there  is 
little  which  differentiates  placement  work 
for  the  handicapped  from  that  of  the  ordi- 
nary agency.  Some  applicants  are  indif- 
ferent toward  work;  some  fail  to  go  to  jobs 
to  which  they  are  referred;  applicants  leave 
positions  without  giving  advance  notice  to 
either  the  employer  or  the  agency;  place- 
ment cannot  always  be  made  near  the  homes 
of  the  workers;  many  applicants  require 
part-time  jobs  and  few  such  jobs  are  avail- 
able in  industry  as  now  organized;  the  lack 
of  vocational  training  facilities  for  adults  is 
a  serious  problem.  The  placement  worker 
dealing  with  normal  applicants  is  con- 
fronted with  these  difficulties  daily.  The 
office  for  the  handicapped  finding  them 
raised  to  the  nth  degree  can  cope  with  them 
only  by  a  closer  application  of  the  same 
methods  and  principles. 

With  this  analysis  before  them,  the 
agencies  have  decided  upon  a  central  office; 
an  executive  head  has  been  appointed  and  a 
new  program  for  the  placement  of  the  handi- 
capped in  New  York  City  has  been  initiated. 
There  could  be  no  better  evidence  of  the 
convincing  character  of  the  report. 


WAGES  AND  THE  FAMILY 

By  Paul  H.   Douglas.     Chicago:  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  2nd  Edition,  1927.     Pp.  304.     $3.00 

Reviewed  by  Paul  F.  Brissenden 


This  book  is  a  carefully  made  and  well 
argued  brief  for  the  adoption  in  this  country 
of  the  family  allowance  system  of  wage 
payment.  Its  purpose,  says  Mr.  Douglas 
in  his  Preface,  is  "to  point  a  way  out  of  the 
impasse  in  which  the  living  wage  principle 
finds  itself.  The  general  theory  that  men 
and  women  should  be  paid  enough  to  main- 
tain themselves  on  at  least  a  physical  basis 
of  life  is  deservedly  winning  acceptance. 
This  theory  is,  however,  in  practice,  pre- 
dominantly used  to  support  the  contention 


that  men  should  be  paid  enough  to  maintain 
a  "standard  family  of  five"  (p.  ix).  The 
dilemma  may  be  stated  in  the  following 
terms:  (1)  It  costs  a  given  sum  to  maintain 
a  "representative"  family  of  five  persons 
upon  this  "physical  basis  of  life";  (2)  it  is 
necessary,  therefore,  to  pay  all  adalt  male 
workers  at  least  that  sum;  (3)  in  1920  this 
cost  (for  the  basic  minimum  wage)  would 
have  aggregated,  according  to  the  author's 
estimate,  58.4  billions  of  dollars  (p.  12);  (4) 
in  the  same  year  the  national  income,  as 


Book  Reviews 


211 


estimated  by  the  National  Bureau  of  Eco- 
nomic Research,  was  74.2  billions  of  dollars 
{Income  in  the  Various  Stales  (p.  32));  (5) 
but,  differential  wages,  above  the  cost-of- 
living  minimum,  incr  ase  the  wage-bill  to 
65.4  billion  leaving  a  margin  after  aggregate 
wages,  of  S.8  billion,  which  is  scarcely  ade- 
quate for  the  necessary  national  savings, 
not  to  mention  interest  and  dividend 
charges. 

It  would  appear  then,  to  put  it  shortly, 
that,  if  the  alternative  lies  between  pro- 
viding each  adult  male  worker  with  enough 
real  earnings  to  maintain  himself  and  four 
dependents  on  "a  physical  basis  of  life" 
and  abandoning  at  least  a  part  of  the  work- 
ing population  to  under-nourishment,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  be  resigned  to  under- 
nourishment, for  the  simple  reason  that  the 
national  income  is  not  large  enough  to  turn 
the  trick.  This,  at  least,  is  Mr.  Douglas' 
conclusion  after  an  examination  of  the  ques- 
tion: Is  industry  able  to  pay  all  adult 
workers  enough  to  support  a  family  of  five? 
After  answering  this  question  in  the  nega- 
tive, he  goes  on  in  the  following  chapter 
to  a  second:  Is  the  family  of  five  typical? 
Here,  too,  after  some  careful  analysis,  a 
negative  conclusion  is  reached. 

Fortunately,  then,  the  dilemma  is  not 
necessarily  real.  Yet,  whatever  the  size  of 
the  typical,  or  average,  family,  assuming  it 
to  be  no  more  than  3.4,  there  evidently  re- 
mains another  dilemma  no  less  serious: 
Thousands  of  families  actually  do  number 
more  than  five.  It  follows,  therefore,  to 
use  the  author's  language  that  "to  grant  a 
wage  to  all  (just)  sufficient  to  maintain  a 
family  of  five  (or  of  any  number  accepted  as 
typical)  would,  therefore,  entail  much  more 
suffering  than  would  be  apparent  at  first 
sight"  because  such  a  wage,  while  more  than 
adequate  for  bachelors  and  for  workers 
with  no  more  than  three  children,  would 
be  tragically  inadequate  for  the  10  or  15  per 
cent  of  the  families  which  contain  more  than 
three  children.  The  seriousness  of  this  sit- 
uation is  seen  to  be  intensified  bj'  the  fact 
that  these  extra-large  families  which  would 
thus  be  inadequately  provided  for,  contain 
from  35  to  40  per  cent  of  the  children  (p.  40). 

Mr.  Douglas  then  follows  through  with  a 


proposal  that  the  system  of  the  family  wage, 
already  widely  used  in  European  countries 
and  in  Australia,  be  adopted  in  the  United 
States.  Once  more,  let  his  questions  de- 
scribe the  proposal:  ".  .  .  .  should  not 
the  single  man"  receive  enough  to  maintain 
him,  plus  a  confortable  margin  to  permit 
his  saving  for  marriage,  but  not  enough  to 
support  a  non-existent  family  of  five? 
Then,  as  he  married  and  as  children  came, 
he  would  receive  additional  allowances  to 
meet  the  extra  cost  which  they  imposed. 
In  this  way,  those  with  large  families  would 
be  protected  in  a  manner  that  would  be 
impossible  under  anjf  uniform  minimum, 
and  those  with  few  or  no  dependents  would 
not  be  given  an  unneeded  surplus." 

The  bulk  of  the  book  is,  as  the  reviewer 
has  intimated,  a  brief  for  this  proposal. 
Part  II  describes  the  family  allowance  sys- 
tem abroad;  Part  III  attempts  to  work  out 
the  principles  governing  its  application. 
The  analysis  of  the  economics  of  the  family 
wage  system  is  made  with  admirable  thor- 
oughness; difficulties  are  squarely  met  and 
appraised;  costs  are  estimated;  objections 
are  even-handedly  canvassed  and  evalu- 
ated. 

The  new  edition  contains  (pp.  276-89)  a 
Supplementary  Appendix  which  reports  the 
progress  of  the  family  allowance  movement 
in  1925  and  1926.  Mr.  Douglas'  accoimt  of 
recent  developments  of  the  movement  re- 
ports that  it  "has  continued  to  extend  its 
scope  in  France  and  Belgium  while  the  idea 
has  won  an  increasing  number  of  advocates 
in  Great  Britain,  Australia  and  the  United 
States."  But  he  reports  further  that  "in 
the  Scandinavian  countries,  in  Germany, 
and  in  other  countries  East  of  the  Rhine 
there  has,  however,  been  a  distinct  reces- 
sion." The  new  edition  also  contains  a 
supplementary  list  of  the  more  important 
recent  works  on  family  allowances. 

The  whole  is  a  splendid  piece  of  pleading 
for  a  revision  of  our  wages  system  which, 
though  it  may  be  especially  difficult  to  put 
through  in  this  country,  deserves  much 
more  general  and  prayerful  discussion  in 
these  States  than  it  has  had,  or  (the  re- 
viewer hates  to  add)  is  likely  to  get. 


212 


Book  Reviews 


THE  AMERICAN  LABOR  YEAR  BOOK 

By  the  Labor  Research  Department  of  the  Rand  School  of 

Social  Science.    New  York:  The  Rand  Book 

Store,  1927.     Pp.  252 

Reviewed  by  Mary  La  Dame 


To  those  who  would  make  fact  the  point 
of  departure  for  propaganda,  this  book  is  a 
welcome  annual.  Particularly  welcome  is 
it,  coming  from  an  institution  associated 
with  socialist  movements.  For  an  organi- 
zation avowedly  partisan  to  eschew  opinion 
and  compile  a  well  arranged  and  docu- 
mented body  of  objective  data  augurs  well 
for  the  future.  Only  in  occasional  in- 
stances is  there  a  reflection  of  partisanship. 

The  1927  edition  succinctly  records  the 
world-wide  activities  of  labor  for  the  cal- 
endar year  1926.  Thirteen  sections  make 
up  the  main  body  of  content.  These  deal 
with  industrial  and  social  conditions,  trade 
union  organization,  labor  disputes,  politics, 
legislation  and  banking,  court  decisions, 
civil  liberties,  workers'  education  and 
health,     cooperation,     public     ownership, 


international  relations  with  labor  and  labor 
abroad.  Flanking  these  sections  at  the 
beginning  is  a  list  of  labor  conventions 
scheduled  for  1927  and  an  international 
labor  diary  for  1926,  and  at  the  end  a  bibli- 
ography and  an  international  labor  diary. 
Altogether  the  facts  collated  here  provide  a 
useful  manual  of  reference. 

As  the  eighth  in  the  Rand  School  series 
of  labor  year  books,  the  1927  edition  pre- 
sents only  minor  differences  from  those  of 
the  preceding  volumes  which  have  been 
published  under  the  direction  of  Solon 
DeLeon  and  his  associate,  Nathan  Fine. 
It  is  more  condensed,  numbering  about  half 
the  pages  and  costing  half  as  much.  Con- 
densation has  been  achieved  mainly  through 
omissions,  one  being  a  section  entitled 
"Employers'  Activities." 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  CAREERS 

By  Edward  L.  Bernays.    New  York:  George  H.  Doran 
Co.,  1927.     Pp.  xi  +  431 

Reviewed  by  Samuel  S.  Board 


Judging  by  the  number  of  reviews  of  Mr. 
Bernays'  collection  the  book  must  be  either 
interesting  or  important. 

Certainly  it  is  interesting.  He  has  se- 
cured from  thirty-nine  men  and  women  who 
are  undoubted  leaders  in  their  fields  their 
points  of  view  and  ideas  regarding  them. 
Most  of  them  are  surprisingly  well  done  and 
make  interesting  reading. 

However,  there  are  certain  obvious  lacks 
in  the  volume.  The  material  is  confessedly 
not  uniform  in  grade  and  so  not  subject  to 
easy  comparison.  Some  of  the  articles  are 
really  illuminating  and  others  leave  one  en- 
tertained but  with  little  less  ignorance. 
There  is  no  attempt  to  use  statistical  ma- 


terial, a  good  deal  of  it  could  be  summed  up 
as  "good  advice"  and  the  world  today, 
especially  the  young  world,  seems  to  be  fed 
up  with  "good  advice." 

One  of  the  most  illuminating  comments 
on  the  book  was  a  statement  by  one  of  the 
reviewers  that  most  of  the  writers  seemed 
to  feel  that  about  the  same  qualities  were 
needed  in  their  respective  businesses  so  that 
it  was  quite  obvious  that  a  man  could 
change  from  one  line  to  another  without 
much  difficulty.  In  other  words  (my 
words)  the  writers  had  failed  to  develop  the 
distinguishing  characteristics  between  their 
fields  in  such  a  way  that  the  distinctive 
qualities  needed  could  be  grasped.    What 


Book  Reviews 


213 


is  a  poor  young  man  to  do?  Flip  a  coin? 
It's  what  a  good  many  of  them  might  as  well 
do.  The  book  then  would  seem  to  be  of 
comparatively  little  use  to  these  youths 
with  jaded  or  xmdeveloped  imaginations 
who  can't  make  a  choice.  To  the  others, 
however,  who  have  seized  on  one  line  or  two 
and  who  wish  to  find  out  the  views  of  indus- 
trial leaders  in  those  particular  fields,  it 
probably  presents  about  what  they  would 
hear  in  an  interview  with  any  one  contribu- 
tor and  should  in  that  way  forearm  him  for 
the  fray. 

It  also  should  be  considered  as  another  of 
that  growing  library  out  of  which  must  be 
collected  the  facts — to  be  steadily  supple- 


mented by  figures  and  job  analyses — which 
would  give  modem  youth  the  help  i<"  needs 
in  becoming  adjusted  to  the  very  complex 
conditions  of  our  modern  life.  It  really 
should  be  read  and  studied  by  every  voca- 
tional counsellor  even  if  it  is  necessary  to 
weigh  and  sift  the  statements  made  therein 
and  to  supplement  the  whole  with  as  many 
cold  hard  facts  as  possible.  It  does  not 
fill  in  any  sense  the  role  taken  by  the  very 
scholarly  outline  of  Occupations  for  Women 
published  a  couple  of  years  ago  by  the 
Bureau  of  Vocational  Information.  It  sim- 
ply doesn't  fill  the  same  bill  at  all  and 
should  be  read  and  studied  not  as  a  source 
book  but  as  a  view  point — which  it  is. 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  ANTHROPOLOGY 

By  Wilson  D.  Wallis.    New  York:  Harper  and  Bros., 
1926.     Pp.  520 

Reviewed  by  Claek  Wissler 


Most  writers  of  introductory  books  on 
anthropology  take  themselves  seriously  and 
feel  called  upon  to  defend  their  own  individ- 
ual views  with  respect  to  fundamental  ques- 
tions, a  serious  defect  in  a  text  book.  The 
present  volume,  however,  does  little  of  this, 
the  author  being  content  to  present  se- 
lected subject  matter,  with  a  minimum 
of  his  own  doctrines.  The  outline  of  the 
book  gives  the  more  important  construc- 
tive conceptions  in  anthropology  and  under 
each  topic  samples  of  the  observations 
made  in  the  laboratory  and  the  field.  The 
biology  and  culture  of  prehistoric  man 
are  briefly  outlined,  but  the  greater  part  of 
the  volume  is  given  over  to  living  races.  In 
this  way  the  reader  is  given  a  topical  ab- 


stract of  living  cultures,  with  some  orien- 
tation in  the  prehistory  of  man  in  Europe. 
If  a  chapter  had  been  given  to  the  archae- 
ology of  America  and  the  fine  field  technique 
developed  by  Kidder,  Nelson,  and  Morris, 
the  subject  of  culture  would  be  fully 
covered. 

The  student  of  personnel  problems  will 
find  this  a  useful  reference  book  and  a  re- 
liable guide  to  the  general  literature  of 
anthropology.  He  will,  however,  find  little 
on  race  individualities,  whether  innate  or 
acquired;  but  in  that  respect  the  author 
reflects  the  status  of  anthropology  rather 
than  otherwise,  since  these  matters  are 
usually  treated  in  the  literature  of  psy- 
chology. 


New  Books 


Bronner,  Augusta  Fox,  and  others.  A 
Manual  of  Individual  Mental  Tests  and 
Testing.  Boston:  Little,  Brown,  1927. 
287  p.    $3.50. 

CusHMAN,  Frank.  Foremanship  and  Su- 
pervision. New  York:  Wiley,  1927.  238 
p.     S2.50. 


Davis,  Jerome,  and  Barnes,  Harry 
Elmer.  An  Introduction  to  Sociology;  A 
Behavioristic  Study  of  American  Society. 
New  York:  D.  C.  Heath,  1927.  950  p. 
S4.48. 

Giles,  Ray.  Developing  and  Managing 
Salesmen.  New  York:  Ronald  Press, 
1927.    222  p.    S3.50. 


214 


Book  Reviews 


HoBSON,  John  Atkinson.  The  Conditions 
of  Industrial  Peace.  New  York:  Mac- 
millan,  1927.     123  p.    $1.50. 

Howes,  Fr.\nk.  The  Borderland  of  Music 
and  Psychology.  New  York:  Oxford, 
1927.    254  p.     S2.25. 

L.vRuE,  D.^NiEL  WoLFORD.  Mental  Hy- 
giene. New  York:  Macmillan.  453  p. 
.?2.20. 

Montgomery,  Roy.\l  E.  Industrial  Re- 
lations in  the  Chicaxjo  Building  Trades. 
Chicago:  University  of  Chicago  Press, 
1927.     349  p.     ?3.00. 

Myerson,  Abr.^bam,  M.D.  The  Psychology 
of  Mental  Disorders.  New  York:  Mac- 
millan.    142  p.     $1.40. 


0.\KEs,  Edwin  St.\cey.  The  Law  of  Or- 
ganized Labor  and  Industrial  Conflicts. 
Rochester,  N.  Y. :  Law\'ers  Co-op.  Pub. 
Co.,  1927.     1250  p.     SIS'OO. 

Newf.\ng,  Osc.^r.  Harmony  between  Labor 
and  Capital.  New  York:  Putnam,  1927. 
238  p.     S2.00. 

WiGGAM,  Albert  Edward.  The  Next  Age 
of  Man.  Ind. :  Bobbs-Merrill,  1927.  418 
p.    S3.00. 

Woods,  Edward  Augustus,  and  Metzger, 
Cl.\rence  B.  America's  Human  Wealth: 
The  Money  Value  of  Human  Life.  New 
York:  F.S.  Crofts.     193  p.    $2.00. 


News  Notes 


PERSONNEL    RESEARCH    FEDERATION 
ACTIVITIES    OF   MEMBER   ORGANIZATIONS 

Columbia  University 

A  list  of  forty-five  courses  in  industrial 
relations,  labor  and  personnel  problems, 
vocational  guidance  and  industrial  educa- 
tion given  in  the  various  schools  and  col- 
leges of  Columbia  University,  is  contained 
in  an  announcement  recently  issued.  Four- 
teen of  these  courses  are  in  labor  problems 
and  industrial  relations.  Two  courses  in 
personnel  administration  are  given,  and 
three  in  factory  management  and  hygiene. 
Nine  courses  in  vocational  psychology  and 
vocational  guidance  are  included,  and  four 
courses  in  vocational  and  psychological 
tests.  Five  courses  from  related  fields  are 
included.  Eight  research  courses  are  an- 
nounced. Indeed  the  student  investigator 
has  the  opportunity  of  working  under  the 
supervision  of  Professors  Seager,  Kitson, 
Poffenberger,  Brissenden,  Dowling,  Lind- 
say, Blanchard  and  Snedden. 

COOPERATIVE    EXPERIMENTS    IN  PERSONNEL 

METHODS 

The  movement  for  cooperative  research 
in  personnel  problems  of  colleges  has  en- 
tered on  a  new  phase  with  the  re-organiza- 
tion of  the  Committee  on  Personnel 
Methods  of  the  American  Council  on  Edu- 
cation, the  provision  by  Mr.  Rockefeller  of 
funds  for  its  expenses,  and  the  appointment 
of  David  A.  Robertson,  formerly  Dean  of 
the  Colleges  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
as  full-time  secretary  of  the  Committee 
with  headquarters  at  26  Jackson  Place, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Robertson  for  the 
following  account  of  a  recent  significant 
conference  at  which  definite  plans  were 
made  for  cooperative  studies  on  continuing 
personnel  record  forms,  achievement  tests, 


personality  measurements,  and  vocational 

monographs. 

The  West  Point  Conference 

A  conference  on  Cooperative  Experi- 
ments in  Personnel  Methods,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Committee  on  Personnel 
Methods  of  the  American  Council  on  Edu- 
cation, was  held  in  the  Hotel  Thayer,  West 
Point,  New  York,  Friday,  July  1,  and  Satur- 
day, July  2,  1927. 

There  were  present:  H.  E.  Hawkes, 
Columbia  University  (Chairman);  Mrs. 
Mary  H.  S.  Hayes,  New  York  City;  Miss 
Emma  P.  Hirth,  New  York  City;  Miss 
Grace  E.  Manson,  Ann  Arbor;  Miss  Mar- 
garet Smith  (Proxy  for  Miss  Leahy),  New 
London;  Messrs.  Samuel  S.  Board,  New 
York,  (Proxy  for  A.  B.  Crawford,  New 
Haven);  F.  F.  Bradshaw,  Chapel  Hill; 
J.  J.  Coss,  New  York  City;  V.  A.  C.  Hen- 
mon.  New  Haven;  L.  B.  Hopkins,  Craw- 
fords\-ille;  D.  T.  Howard,  Evanston;  W. 
B.  Learned,  New  York  City;  C.  R.  Mann, 
Washington,  D.  C;  D.  G.  Paterson,  Min- 
neapolis; D.  A.  Robertson,  Washington, 
D.  C;  E.  K.  Strong,  Jr.,  Stanford  Uni- 
versity; M.  R.  Trabue,  Chapel  Hill;  Doug- 
las Waples,  Chicago,  (Proxy  for  W.  W. 
Charters);  B.  D.  Wood,  New  York  City; 
and  C.  S.  Yoakum,  Ann  Arbor. 

The  conference  was  called  to  order  at 
9:00  a.m.,  Friday,  July  1,  1927,  by  the  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Personnel 
Methods,  H.  E.  Hawkes,  who  referred  to 
the  principal  events  which  had  resulted 
in  this  conference.  The  interest  of  the 
National  Research  Council,  Division  of 
Anthropology,  led  to  calling  the  Nationa. 
Research  Council  Conference  on  Vocational 
Guidance  in  Colleges  held  January  1,  1925, 
in  Washington.  D.  C.  This  was  attended 
by  representatives  of  fourteen  universities 
who  were  constituted  an  Advisory  Council 
with  power  to  increase  its  membership,  who 


215 


216 


News  Notes 


voted  to  ask  the  American  Council  on  Edu- 
cation to  be  its  sponsor,  and  who  elected 
H.  E.  Hawkes  chairman  of  the  Advisory 
Council  and  of  the  Executive  Committee 
of  five  which  the  chairman  was  authorized 
to  appo  nt.  The  Executive  Committee 
Messrs.  Hawkes,  Holmes,  Mann,  Scott  and 
Wellman,  prepared  many  memoranda  and 
endeavored  to  secure  financial  support. 
A  grant  from  John  D.  Rockefeller  Jr.'s 
Benevolent  Fund  made  possible  a  study  of 
personnel  procedure  in  fourteen  institu- 
tions by  L.  B.  Hopkins  (Educational 
Record,  October,  1926,  Supplement:  Per- 
sonnel Procedure  in  Education).  The  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  then  presented  to 
Mr.  Rockefeller  a  plan  (I)  to  inform  the 
colleges  and  universities  concerning  the 
best  methods  of  personnel;  (2)  to  prepare  a 
personal  record  card  which  should  afford 
personal  information  to  teachers  and  ad- 
ministrators at  the  college  level;  (3)  to 
prepare  achievement  tests  and  make  avail- 
able all  the  facts  concerning  them  in  an 
effort  to  stimulate  such  testing;  (4)  to  de- 
velop objective  and  useful  measurements 
of  character;  (5)  to  prepare  vocational 
monographs.  For  these  projects  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller granted  to  the  American  Council  on 
Education  the  sum  of  $20,000  a  year  for 
three  years  The  Executive  Committee 
then  decided  that  it  would  invite  the  co- 
operation of  scholars  in  the  work  of  four 
committees,  of  which  the  chairman  of  each 
should  be  a  member  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  determine  policies  at  a  confer- 
ence of  all  committees  to  be  held  at  West 
Point  July  1  and  2,  1927.  The  American 
Council  on  Education  invited  the  following 
men  and  women  to  serve  on  these  commit- 
tees and  to  attend  the  West  Point  confer- 
ence: 

Central  Committee  on  Personnel  Methods: 
H.  E.  Hawkes,  Chairman,  H.  W.  Holmes, 
L.  B.  Hopkins,  C.  R.  Mann,  W.  D.  Scott. 

1.  Personal  Record  Cards:  L.  B.  Hopkins 
(Wabash),  Chairman,  Mary  H.  S.  Hayes 
(New  York),  J.  H.  Willits  (Pennsylvania), 
J.  J.  Coss  (Columbia),  D.  T.  Howard 
(Northwestern). 

2.  Achievement  Tests:  H.  E.  Hawkes 
(Columbia),  Chairman,  Agnes  B.  Leahy 
(Connecticut  College),  V.  A.  C.  Henmon 


(Yale),  M.  R.  Trabue   (North  Carolina), 
Ben  D.  Wood  (Columbia). 

3.  Rating  Scales:  D.  A.  Robertson 
(American  Council  on  Education),  Chair- 
man, Grace  E.  Manson  (Michigan),  F.  F. 
Bradshaw  (North  Carolina),  Donald  G. 
Paterson  (Minnesota),  E.  K  Strong,  Jr., 
(Stanford). 

4.  Vocational  Monographs:  C.  R.  Mann 
(American  Council  on  Education),  Chair- 
man, Emma  P.  Hirth  (New  York),  W.  W. 
Charters  (Chicago),  A.  B.  Crawford  (Yale), 
C.  S.  Yoakum  (Michigan). 

The  Chairman  then  proposed  a  general 
conference  Friday  morning;  Committee 
meetings  Friday  afternoon  and  a  general 
conference  Saturday  morning  to  receive  the 
reports  of  committees. 

The  Director  of  the  American  Council 
on  Education,  Dr.  C.  R.  Mann,  emphasized 
the  educational  character  of  the  project. 
It  is  the  purpose  to  discover  the  best  tools 
at  present  available,  to  induce  the  colleges 
and  universities  to  experiment  with  these, 
and  to  compare  results. 

During  a  discussion  in  which  all  members 
of  the  conference  engaged  enthusiastically 
and  pertinently  it  became  clear  that  it  was 
desirable  to  cooperate  with  all  reputable 
organizations  and  institutions  interested 
in  personnel  procedure. 

It  icas  voted  to  invite  all  interested  groups 
to  a  conference  next  winter. 

Further  discussion  developed  the  oppor- 
tunities and  responsibilities  of  a  central 
office  for  quick  evaluation  of  material  avail- 
able; for  information  concerning  personal 
record  forms,  achievement  tests,  rating 
scales,  and  vocational  monographs;  and 
for  stimulating  the  cooperation  of  colleges 
and  universities,  secondary  schools,  and 
other  organizations  concerned  in  personnel 
procedure. 

The  afternoon  and  evening  of  Friday  were 
devoted  to  sessions  of  the  several  com- 
mittees. 

The  final  session  of  the  Conference  was 
called  to  order  at  10:00  a.m.  Saturday  morn- 
ing by  the  Chairman,  Dean  H.  E.  Hawkes. 

Record  Cards 

The  Committee  on  Personal  Record  Cards 
presented  the  following  report: 


News  Notes 


217 


The  Committee  agreed  to  undertake  the 
formation  of  two  separate  record  forms,  as 
follows: 

1.  A  "Complete  Educational  Personnel 
Record." 

This  form  contains  items  of  record  cover- 
ing a  student's  school  life  from  the  seventh 
grade  through  college  inclusive.  It  con- 
tains personal  items,  extra-curriculum  and 
academic  records.  It  is  intended  as  a  check 
list  of  items  considered  useful  for  imme- 
diate service  in  colleges,  high  schools  and 
schools,  and  in  research.  Each  item  is 
defined,  its  use  described,  and  whenever 
possible  a  summary  is  given  of  the  support- 
ing experimental  evidence.  The  items  are 
so  worded  as  to  indicate  the  probable  wis- 
dom of  their  inclusion  on  cards  intended 
for  different  purposes.  The  American 
Council  on  Education  wUl  receive  items  not 
included  when  accompanied  by  definitions, 
descriptions  of  use  and  evidence  of  experi- 
mental check  upon  use. 

2.  A  "College  Personnel  Record"  (A 
List  of  Items  and  Manual  of  Instructions). 

This  list  contains  items  of  record  selected 
because  of  their  immediate  utility  in  the 
individual  care  of  students  of  college  grade. 
It  contains  items  from  the  secondary  school 
record,  and  items  of  the  college  record,  per- 
sonal, extra-curriculum  and  academic  in 
character.  Each  item  is  defined,  its  use 
discussed,  and  whenever  possible  a  sum- 
mary is  given  of  the  supporting  experimen- 
tal evidence.  Items  which  may  be  included 
on  a  teacher's  card  are  indicated.  The  list 
as  a  whole  is  intended  for  the  key  personnel 
card  of  the  college,  distinct  from  the  record 
kept  for  admission  or  for  the  cumulative 
record  of  grades. 

The  American  Council  on  Education 
would  offer  for  sale  a  card  on  which  all 
listed  items  are  included. 

The  Committee  recommends  that  funds 
be  assigned  for  the  formation  of  these  proj- 
ects as  follows:  For  work  onthe  "Complete 
Educational  Personnel  Record,"  two  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  for  work  on  the  "College 
Personnel  Record,"  five  hundred  dollars. 

It  was  voted  to  approve  the  report. 


Achievement  Tests 

The  Committee  on  Achievement  Tests 
presented  the  following  report  through  H. 
E.  Hawkes: 

1.  It  is  recommended  that  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  through  its  Secretary  and 
central  office  make  a  census  of  work  that  is 
being  done  in  schools  and  colleges  in  the 
preparation  and  use  of  objective  achieve- 
ment tests. 

2.  It  is  recommended  that  the  Executive 
Committee  through  its  Secretary  attempt 
to  stimulate  the  intelligent  use  of  place- 
ment tests  and  objective  achievement  tests 
in  colleges.  To  this  end  an  annotated  list 
of  available  tests  for  the  college  level,  with 
directions  and  suggestions  for  their  use, 
should  be  prepared  under  the  direction  of 
the  sub-committee,  and  distributed  to  in- 
stitutions proposing  to  make  use  of  the 
achievement  tests. 

3.  It  is  recommended  that  the  sub-com- 
mittee be  authorized  to  promote  compara- 
bility studies  on  the  part  of  such  insti- 
tutions and  commissions  as  they  can  inter- 
est in  the  project. 

4.  It  is  proposed  that  objective  achieve- 
ment tests  in  the  following  subjects  be 
prepared  as  rapidly  as  possible,  the  sub- 
jects below  being  listed  in  the  order  of  their 
importance  for  this  purpose:  Economics, 
Government,  Ancient  History,  European 
History,  Solid  Geometry  and  Trigonome- 
try, Biology. 

(It  is  to  be  noted  that  objective  achieve- 
ment tests  are  already  available  in  Modern 
Foreign  Languages,  High  School  Mathe- 
matics, American  History,  English,  First 
and  Second  Year  Latin,  Physics  and  Chem- 
istry.) 

5.  Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that 
although  there  are  a  sufficient  number  of 
forms  and  objective  achievement  tests  to 
last  for  three  or  four  years,  any  permanent 
use  of  such  tests  is  contingent  upon  the  prep- 
aration of  new  forms  in  practically  every 
subject  of  study. 

6.  Although  the  preparation  of  a  general 
high  school  content  examination  may  be 
desirable,  no  recommendation  is  made  for 
its  preparation  at  the  present  time. 


218 


News  Notes 


7.  An  allocation  of  $1500  for  the  use  of 
this  committee  is  recommended.  This 
sum  will  he  used  in  preparing  new  tests,  as 
proposed  under  suggestion  number  four. 

ll  was  voted  to  approve  the  report  of  the 
Committee. 

Personality  Measurement 

The  Committee  on  Rating  Scales  through 
D.  A.  Robertson  presented  the  following 
report: 

After  general  discussion  in  which  it  ap- 
peared that  it  was  too  late  to  offer  rating 
scales  in  connection  with  the  admission  of 
students  to  the  colleges  in  1927  and  that  the 
committee  was  in  agreement  in  its  attitude 
toward  existing  rating  scales  and  the  ases 
for  which  they  are  intended — an  attitude 
which  may  be  described  as  open  minded — 
the  Committee  on  Rating  Scales  unani- 
mously presents  these  recommendations: 

I.  The  name  of  the  Committee  should  be 
Committee  on  Personality  Measurement. 

II.  Personnel  work  demands,  in  addition 
to  ability  and  aptitude  tests,  estimates  and 
measurements  ol  other  personality  traits. 

III.  Rating  Scale  techniques  are  recog- 
nized as  provisional  pending  development 
of  objective  measurements. 

IV.  Meantime  sufficient  progress  has 
been  made  in  measuring  certain  personality 
traits  to  warrant  further  trial  at  the  present 
time. 

V.  In  view  of  the  small  number  of  valid 
tests  of  personality  traits  it  is  recognized 
that  rating  scales  will  be  necessary  for  some 
time  to  come 

VI.  In  using  rating  scales  an  effort 
should  be  made  to  safeguard  and  improve 
rating  procedures  by  adhering  to  the  fol- 
lowing principles: 

1.  Rate  only  traits  observed  by  the 
rater. 

2.  Rate  only  those  traits  for  which  valid 
objective  measurements  are  not  now  avail- 
able. 

3.  If  instructors  are  to  rate  large  num- 
bers of  students  the  number  of  items  should 
not  exceed  five. 

4.  Traits  should  he  mutually  exclusive. 
0.  No  single  trait  should  include  unre- 
lated modes  of  Ijehavior. 

VII.  If  the  Executive  Committee  desires, 


this  Committee  will  prepare  a  rating  scale 
on  those  principles  for  use  in  a  cooperative 
experiment  among  selected  secondary 
schools  and  colleges;  and 

The  Committee  will  prepare  instructions 
for  the  guidance  of  raters  and  makers  of 
"word  pictures"  recognizing  the  impor- 
tance of  training  raters  in  order  to  obtain 
valid  ratings. 

VIII.  Cooperative  experiment  with  Self- 
rating  scales  is  postponed. 

IX.  Impressed  \n  the  Vocational  Inter- 
est Test  prepared  by  E.  K.  Strong,  Jr., 
the  Committee  desires  to  offer  it  to  such 
institutions  as  desire  to  cooperate  in  our 
experimental  program  and  to  develop  scales 
and  a  scoring  manual,  commends  the  proj- 
ect to  President  Ray  Lyman  Wilbur  of 
Stanford  Universitj',  and  recommends  to 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Personnel  Methods  the  appropriation 
of  five  hundred  dollars  for  this  purpose.  It 
is  desired  to  secure  first  scales  for  Engineer- 
ing, Ministry,  Law,  Medicine,  Certified 
Public  Accounting. 

An  appropriation  to  cover  the  expense  of 
future  meetings  of  this  Committee  is  re- 
quested. 

The  Committee  will  be  glad  to  consider 
other  tests  of  personality  traits  sufficiently 
developed  to  warrant  inclusion  in  this  co- 
operative program. 

It  was  voted  to  approve  the  report. 

Vocational  Monographs 

The  Committee  on  Vocational  Mono- 
graphs presented  the  following  report 
through  C.  R.  Mann: 

The  Committee  recommends  the  follow- 
ing procedure  concerning  vocational  mono- 
graphs : 

I.  The  Committee  itself  will  prepare  a 
statement  defining 

1.  The  results  a  well-written  monograph 
achieves. 

2.  The  types  of  information  such  a  mono- 
graph contains. 

3.  Suggestions  as  to  sources  of  informa- 
tion and  methods  of  presentation. 

As  a  result  of  this  conference  the  com- 
mittee is  fairly  well  agreed  on  the  main 
points  in  this  statement  so  that  it  should 
be  ready  very  soon. 


News  Notes 


219 


II.  Employ  a  specialist  full  time  for  a 
couple  of  months  to  collect  and  analyse  as 
many  existing  vocational  monographs  as 
practicable  for  the  purpose  of  critically 
revising  the  statement  prepared  under  I. 
On  the  basis  of  this  work  develop  a  working 
model  outline  of  form  and  content  for  such 
monographs.  This  should  be  completed 
by  November. 

III.  Invite  four  or  five  individuals  or 
industrial  firms  to  prepare  one  vocational 
monograph  each  in  some  occupational  field 
where  reliable  occupational  data  are  avail- 
able. Those  should  be  completed  by  next 
March,  1928. 

IV.  Distribute  samples  of  these  four  or 
five  monographs  to  colleges  that  have  ap- 
pointment offices  for  trial  with  students 
graduating  in  June,  1928. 

V.  Collect  reports  on  student  reaction 
to  these  experimental  monographs,  compile 
results,  improve  outlines  and  forms,  and 
prepare  improved  monographs  for  similar 
experimental  trial  in  1929. 

The  expenses  of  this  program  for  the 
current  fiscal  year  ending  May  1,  1928,  are 
estimated  at  $2500.  The  committee  re- 
quests that  this  sum  be  allocated  to  it  for 
the  aforementioned  piu"poses. 

It  was  voted  to  approve  the  report. 

It  was  voted  to  approve  the  four  reports  as 
a  whole  and  to  refer  the  report  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Personnel  Methods. 

The  Director  of  the  American  Council  on 
Education  expressed  the  appreciation  of 
the  Council  for  the  cooperation  of  those 
present  in  a  very  effective  conference. 

Mr.  Waples  expressed  the  appreciation 
of  the  members  of  the  conference  for  the 
Director's  provision  for  the  comfort  of  the 
guests  of  the  American  Council  on  Edu- 
cation. 

The  Chairman  extended  the  thanks  of 
the  Committee  on  Personnel  Methods  to  all 
who  had  participated  in  an  important,  ener- 
getic and  fruitful  conference  which  held 
great  promise  for  future  service. 

SCIENTIFIC   MANAGEMENT   IN   EUROPE 

The  League  of  Nations  has  issued  a 
memorandum  on  Scientific  Management  in 
Europe,  as  part  of  the  documentation  of  the 
International  Economic  Conference,  which 


began  its  sessions  at  Geneva  on  May  4. 
The  document  was  prepared  by  the 
Economic  and  Financial  Section  of  the 
League  from  information  furnished  to  it 
by  governments,  by  members  of  the 
Preparatory  Committee  for  the  Confer- 
ence and  by  industrial  organizations,  which 
prepared  memoranda  at  the  request  of 
members  of  the  committee. 

The  salient  phases  of  the  subject  and  its 
international  aspects  are  examined  from 
this  mass  of  information,  and  the  statistical 
tables  and  summaries,  as  a  consequence,  are 
the  most  comprehensive,  authentic  and  up- 
to-date  available. 

The  memorandum  is  obtainable  from  the 
American  agent  for  publications  of  the 
League  of  Nations,  World  Peace  Founda- 
tion, 40  Mt.  Vernon  Street,  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts.   Price  $.15. 

SUMMER   SCHOOL  OP  THE   I.    K.   I, 

The  first  Summer  School  held  imder  the 
auspices  of  the  I.  R.  I.  (International  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Study  and  Improvement  of 
Human  Relations  and  Conditions  in  Indus- 
try) completed  its  week  of  meetings  at 
Baveno,  Italy,  June  25th.  The  subject 
chosen  for  study  was  ''The  Elimination  of 
Unnecessary  Fatigue  in  Industry"  and  was 
the  outcome  of  a  discussion  on  the  Human 
Element  in  Industry  which  took  place  at 
the  meeting  held  the  previous  summer  at 
the  Rigi-Scheidegg,  Switzeiland. 

Dr.  Lillian  M.  Gilbreth  came  from  the 
United  States  to  act  as  Chairman  for  this 
School.  The  speakers  were  leaders  in 
various  fields  that  have  to  do  with  fatigue 
study.  The  entire  group,  lecturers  and 
students,  represented  15  nations. 

A  well  balanced  program  was  presented 
by  the  ten  lectures.  Dr.  Loriga  of  Rome 
and  Mme.  Thumen  of  Paris  outlined  the 
history  of  work  in  this  field  and  furnished 
not  only  an  account  but  an  evaluation 
that  was  most  significant.  Dr.  Lipmann 
of  Berlin  in  two  lectures  rich  in  information 
presented  graphically  and  clearly  present 
day  knowledge  on  the  length  of  work  and 
rest  periods.  This  was  supplemented  by 
lectures  from  Dr.  Vernon  and  Mr.  Weston, 
both  of  the  Industrial  Fatigue  Research 
Board,  London,  giving  valuable  practical 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,  VOL.   VI,   NO.    3 


220 


News  Notes 


information  of  work  being  done  in  attempt- 
ing to  eliminate  the  evil  effects  of  extremes 
of  temperature,  dust,  damp  and  eye  strain. 
These  four  lectures,  with  one  by  Mr.  Piaci- 
telli  of  the  Barber  Asphalt  Co.,  U.  S.  A., 
showing  applications  of  fatigue  elimina- 
tion in  industry,  and  especially  in  teaching 
new  work,  served  to  give  a  good  idea  of  the 
fatigue  study  of  today. 

The  remaining  three  lectures,  by  Prof. 
Pear  of  Manchester,  England,  indicated 
the  relation  of  work  to  temperament  and 
to  self-expression.  Prof.  Pear  showed  not 
only  the  underlying  causes  of  much  that 
has  occurred,  but  suggested  possible  de- 
velopments and  stimulated  the  group  to 
a  new  attack  on  the  fundamental  roots  of 
fatigue. 

As  was  to  be  expected  from  a  group  con- 
taining workers,  managers,  scientists,  fac- 
tory inspectors,  social  workers,  etc.,  the 
discussion  was  prolonged  and  interesting, 
the  main  points  of  which  will  be  incorpor- 
ated along  wich  the  papers  in  the  forth- 
coming report  of  the  School,  which  may  be 
obtained  from  the  Secretariat  Headquarters 
of  the  Association  at  Goethestrasse  10, 
Zuerich,  Switzerland. 

The  results  of  these  meetings  can  hardly 
be  estimated  so  soon  after  being  held,  but 
it  seems  certain  that  while  fatigue  can  not 
as  yet  be  measured  adequately,  it  is  being 
better  defined,  and  much  is  being  done  to 
prevent  unnecessary  fatigue  and  to  stimu- 
late recovery  from  such  fatigue  as  is  neces- 
sarv.  This  information  is  being  collected 
and  circulated,  and  valuable  results  may  be 
expected  from  its  use,  if  it  is  sufficiently 
realized  that  modifications  must  be  made  to 
fit  different  needs. 


The  group  agreed  that  more  such 
Summer  Schools  should  be  undertaken. 
Next  year  brings  the  triennial  Congress;  but 
undoubtedly  a  School  on  some  related  sub- 
ject will  be  held  in  the  summer  of  1929. 

PERSONAL  ITEMS 

Professor  J.  H.  WiUits,  head  of  the 
Department  of  Industrial  Research  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  is  spending  the 
current  academic  year  abroad.  In  the 
meantime  his  place  on  the  Administrative 
Board  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federa- 
tion is  being  filled  by  Dr.  W.  E.  Wickenden. 

Professor  Vivian  A.  C.  Henmon,  who 
left  the  University  of  Wisconsin  a  j^ear  ago 
to  become  Professor  of  Educational  Psychol- 
ogy at  Yale,  has  returned  to  Wisconsin  to 
become  Personnel  Director  of  the  Univer- 
sity and  head  of  the  Department  of  Psychol- 
ogy, newly  established  as  an  administrative 
unit  separate  from  the  Department  of 
Philosophy.  His  chair  at  Yale  will  be  filled 
by  Dr.  Mark  A.  May,  who  has  been  on  leave 
from  Syracuse  while  engaged  on  the  Char- 
acter Education  Inquiry  with  which  he 
continues  to  be  associated  part  time.  Dr. 
May's  place  at  Syracuse  has  in  turn  been 
filled  by  appointment  of  Professor  W.  R. 
Wells,  formerly  of  Lake  Forest  College. 

Professor  Francis  J.  Neef  has  been  ap- 
pointed director  of  the  Bureau  of  Person- 
nel Research  at  Dartmouth  College  to 
succeed  Professor  Harry  R.  Wellman  who 
has  been  acting  as  chairman  of  the 
Bureau. 


Current  Periodicals 

Prepared  by  Linda  H.  Morley,  Industrial  Relations  Counselors,  Inc. 

Note  :  Titles  of  magazines  are  abbreviated  throughout  the  list.  Com- 
plete titles  to  correspond  to  abbreviations  used  are  given  at  end  of  list. 
Numbers  appearing  after  magazine  titles  indicate  the  volume  and  page 
and  are  followed  by  the  date. 


ABILITY  TESTS 

Can  psychology  help  in  the  selection  of 
personnel?  J.  B.  Watson.  Ptr  Ink 
139:  6^70+  April  21,   1927. 

How  G.  E.  fits  square  pegs  into  square  holes. 
G.  E.  MacIlwain.  il.  Forbes  19:  40  + 
May  15,  1927. 

Iowa  placement  examinations  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Minnesota.  T.  A.  Langlib. 
J  Eng  Educ  17:  842-60  May,  1927. 

Selecting  Salesmen  by  mental  and  physical 
tests.  C.  W.  HoYT.  Sales  Management 
12:  80a-4+  April  30,  1927. 

accidents 

Analysis  of  construction  accidents  in  Ohio. 

T.  P.  Kearns.    Nat  Safety  N  15:  27-8 

April,    1927. 
Analysis  of  serious  accidents  in  machine 

shops.     G.   V.   Fuller.     Iron  Tr  R  80: 

1282-5  May  19,  1927. 
Careful    analysis   to    compensation    claims 

proves  beneficial  to  all  concerned.    H.  J. 

Harrington.    Coal  Age  31:  596-7  April 

28,  1927. 
Does  the  season  of  the  year  have  any  effect 

on  the  accident  rate  in  coal  mines?    T.  T. 

Read,    il  Coal  Age  31:  355-7  March  10, 

1927. 
Getting  at  the  where,  when  and  how  of 

accidents.    D.  P.  Hartson.    Nat  Safety 

N  15:  42  March,  1927. 
Relation  of  atmospheric  conditions  to  the 

working  capacity  and  the  accident  rate  of 

coal    miners.    H.    M.    Vernon    and    T. 

Bedford.    Engineering   123:  290  March 

11,  1927. 


What  about  your  accident  rate?  L.  A. 
DeBlois.  Nat  Safety  N  15:  21-3  March, 
1927. 

ACCIDENTS — statistics 

Value  of  classified  statistics.  H.  K. 
Bennett,  map  Nat  Safety  N  15:  19-20 
March,  1927. 


How  much  is  experience  worth?  R.  F. 
McDonald.  Adv  &  Sell  8:  40  March  9, 
1927. 

Keeping  up  with  the  business  parade  after 
fifty;  interview  with  Donald  B.  Arm- 
strong. C.  W.  Steepler.  Comm  & 
Fin  16:   1097-8  June  1,  1927. 

apprentices 

Apprentice  training  course  makes  molders. 
P.  R.  Ramp,  il  Foundry  55:  444-6 
June    1,    1927. 

Comprehensive  apprenticeship  program  for 
the  automotive  industry.  H.  A.  From- 
MELT.  il  Soc  Auto  Eng  J  20:  443-9 
April,  1927;  Abstract.  Am  Mach  66: 
211-12  February  3,  1927;  Discussion. 
Soc  Auto  Eng  J  20:  449-53  April,   1927. 

Five  industrial  cities  combine  forces  to 
train  apprentices.  S.  M.  Brah.  il 
Foundry  55:  380-4+  May  15,  1927. 

Training  of  trades  apprentices.  Mech 
Eng  49:  421-5  May,   1927. 

Uniform  apprenticeship  certificate  for  co- 
operating groups  of  employers.  W.  S. 
Conant.  il  Mech  Eng  49:  547-52  sec 
2  May,  1927. 


221 


222 


Current  Periodicals 


AtTTOMOBILE   DRIVERS 

Intellectual  and  emotional  fitness  for 
automobile  operation.  A.  L.  Jacoby. 
Nat  Safety  X   15:  43-4  April,   1927. 

BONUS   SYSTEM 

Cutting  costs  on  contract  work.  A. 
Mumper.  Manuf  Ind  13:  453^  June, 
1927. 

Employees'  bonus  and  benefit  schemes. 
Management  R  16:  163-4  May,  1927. 

Group  bonus  system  for  smelter  depart- 
ments.    C.      R.      KUZELL      AND      J.       R. 

Marston.    Min  Cong  J  13:  361-3+  May, 

1927. 
Merchandise  handling  speeded  at  Chicago 

Junction  freighthouse  by  tonnage  bonus 

system,     il   Ry   Age  83:  1135-7   April   9, 

1927. 
Wage  incentive  for  non-productive  workers. 

A.    Jensen,    Jr.     Ind   Management   73: 

334-7  June,  1927. 

CHILD  LABOR 

Training    and    employment    of    juveniles. 

Engineering     123:  491     April    22,     1927. 
Vocational  guidance  in  Great  Britain.    C. 

E.    Clift.     Int    Labour    R    15:  547-67 

April,    1927. 

COAL  MINES  AND  MINING 

Experiment  in  scientific  management.  J. 
C.  White,  charts  Coal  Age  30:  807-12 
December  9,  1926;  Same.  Taylor  Soc  Bui 
12:  344-51  April,  1927. 

Specialized  supervision  insured  in  every 
department  of  coal  mining  by  new  type  of 
organization.  R.  L.  Melendy.  Coal 
Age  31:  678-81  May  12,  1927. 

college   STUDENTS 

Some  data  on  the  physical  qualifications 
of  the  class  of  1930  and  comparisons  with 
the  class  of  1929.  J.  A.  Davis.  Stevens 
Ind  43:  140-2  November  30,  1926. 

DISABLED — REHABILITATION 

Cardiac  patient  in  industry:  Chicago  heart 
association  plans  constructive  program; 


data  from  thirty-four  industries.  H.  E. 
Mock  and  S.  P.  Moore.  J.  Ind  Hygiene 
9:   176-86  May,  1927. 


DRAFTSMEN 

Shop  draftsman  and  his  duties.  W.  Ichler. 
Ry   Mech   Eng   101:  211-12   April,    1927. 

EFFICIENCY 

New  elements  in  American  business  eflB- 
ciency.  C.  S.  Duncan.  Harvard  Busi- 
ness R  5:  269-80  April,  1927. 

ELECTRIC   UTILITIES 

Engineer  to  executives.  A.  Dow.  NELA 
Bui  14:  205-6  April,  1927. 

employees'  representation  in 
management 

Management  and  labor  cooperation  on  the 

railroads;  B.  &  O.  plan.    O.  S.  Beyer,  Jr. 

Ind  Management  73:  26^70  May,  1927. 

New  executive  viewpoint  on  labor  relations ; 
B.&O.plan.  D.  WiLLARD.  Ind. Manage- 
ment 73:  260-3  May,  1927. 

EMPLOYMENT — STATISTICS 

Comparison  of  employment  and  productiv- 
ity in  manufacturing  industries.  1919 
to  1925.  Monthly  Labor  R  24:  882-3 
May,  1927. 

Employment  statistics  for  the  United 
States.  R.  G.  Hurlin  and  W.  A.  Ber- 
RiDGE,  eds.  215p  Russell  Sage  foundation. 
New  York  1926;  Review.  IVIonthly  Labor 
R  24:  791-4  April,  1927. 

Measuring  the  fluctuations  of  employment 
in  the  Ohio  construction  industry.  R.  J. 
Watkins.  Am  Statis  Assn  J  22:  40-8 
March,   1927. 

EMPLOYMENT  MANAGEMENT 

Classifying    employes.     H.    E.    Kaemmer. 

Textile  World  71:  3089+  May  14,  1927. 
Labor    policy    of    the    Oneida    community 

(ltd).     Montly  Labor  R  24:  919-22  May, 

1927. 
Personnel  problems  of  staff  men  in  industry. 

A.  B.  Rich.    Taylor  Soc  Bui  12:  375-6 

April,  1927. 


Current  Periodicals 


223 


ENGINEERS 

Ordinary  engineer  and  his  remuneration. 
Elect  E,  (Lond)  100:  634-5  April  22,  1927. 

Program  of  A.  A.  E.  for  higher  compensa- 
tion. Munic  &  Co  Eng  72:  121-2  March, 
1927;  Same.  Prof  Eng  12:  4-5  March, 
1927. 

Services  and  salaries  of  engineers.  A. 
Richards,  charts  Prof  Eng  11:  14r-16 
October;  9-14  November,  1926;  12:  16-23 
January;  22^  February;  35-6  March; 
22-5  April,  1927. 

Study  of  former  students.  C.  L.  Walker. 
Sibley  J  41:  86-7+  March,  1927. 


HOURS   OF  LABOR 

Five-day  week.  W.  I.  King,  il  Burroughs 
Clearing    house     11:  5-7+     May,     1927. 

Some  considerations  in  reducing  working 
time.  A.  H.  Young.  Iron  Age  119: 
1599  June  2,  1927. 

HYGIENE,   INDUSTRIAL 

Health  survey  of  the  printing  trades,  1922 
to  1925.  F:  L.  Hoffman.  U  S  Bur 
Labor  Statist) '^s  Bui  427:  1-149  (bibliog. 
p.  127-9)  1927. 


EYE   STRAIN 

Effect  of  eyestrain  on  the  output  of  linkers 
in  the  hosiery  industry;  abstract.  H.  C. 
Weston  and  S.  Adams.  Monthly  Labor 
R  24:  949-50  May,  1927. 

factories — location 

Labor  considerations  in  plant  location. 
H.  S.  CoLBURN.  Manuf  Ind  13:  261^ 
April,  1927. 

FARM  LABOR 

Science  of  farm  labour:  scientific  manage- 
ment and  German  agriculture.  Int  La- 
bour R  15:  379-413  March,  1927. 


Eliminating  fatigue  losses.    F.  Hahn  and 

S.    F.    CsoHAR.    Manuf    Ind    13:  373-4 

May,  1927. 
La  meilleure  utilisation  de  1 'effort  humain 

et  la  fatigue  industrielle .    L.  A.  Legros. 

Soc  Ing  Civils  Bui  79:  915-52  September, 

1926. 

FOREMEN 

Letting  foremen  teach  themselves;  edu- 
cational experiment  conducted  by  the 
Bridgeport  Brass  co.,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 
Iron  Age  119:  1057-9  April  14,  1927. 

Wage  incentive  for  non-productive  workers. 
A.  Jensen,  Jr.  Ind  Management  73: 
334-7  June,  1927. 

Why  the  new  foremanship  is  a  challenge  to 
management.  G.  L.  Gardiner.  Fac- 
tory 38:  888+    May,    1927. 


industrial  management 

Experiment  in  scientific  management.    J. 

C.  White,    charts  Coal  Age  30:  807-12 

December   9,    1926;    Same.    Taylor    Soc 

Bui  12:  344-51  April,  1927. 
First     step     in     industrial     organization; 

leadership.    A.  H.  Church.    Manuf  Ind 

13:  217-19  March,   1927. 
Henri    Fayol;    a   great   engineer,    a   great 

scientist  and  a  great  management  leader. 

C:  de    Freminvillb.    Taylor    Soc    Bui 

12:  303-6  February,  1927. 
International  cooperation  in  the  promotion 

of  scientific  management;  a  symposiimi 

representing    Czechoslovakia,    England, 

France,     Germany,     Holland     and     the 

United     States.    M.     L.     Cooke     and 

others.    Taylor     Boc     Bui     12:  312-25 

February,  1927. 
Morale  as  a  factor  in  time  study  technique; 

production  standards  used  in  the  garment 

industry   in   Cleveland.    M.   L.   Cooke. 

Taylor' Soc    Bui    12:  331-7    April,    1927; 

Same.    Mech  Eng  49:  595-8  June,  1927; 

Discussion.    Taylor  Soc  Bui  12:  337-43 

April,   1927;  Mech  Eng  49:  598-9  June, 

1927. 
Technical  and  non-technical  management. 

L.   A.   Legros.    Engineeiing   123:  490-1 

April  22,  1927. 

industrial  management — libraries 

Reference  libraries  of  scientific  management 
in  foreign  countries.  M.  L.  Cooke. 
Taylor  Soc  Bui  12:  378  April,  1927. 


224 


Current  Periodicals 


INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 

Elements  of  an  industrial  relations  pro- 
gram.    Am  Mach  66:  492  March  24,  1927. 

How  to  reconcile  relations  between  the 
consumer,  the  producer  and  the  wage 
earner;  proposed  national  commonwealth 
fund.  A.  Gridley.  Electrician  98:  464 
April  29,  1927. 

Human  treatment  of  workers  will  solve 
problems  of  new  Ijusiness  era.  A.  T. 
MoREY.     Elec  Ry  J  69:  876  May  14,  1927. 

Twentieth  century  progress  in  industrial 
relations.  E:  S.  Cowdrick.  Am  Mach 
66:  873  May  19,  1927. 


MEDICAL  SERVICE 

Health   problems   of  the   textile   industry. 

R.    P.    Knapp.    il    Nation's    Health   9: 

17-20+    April,    1927. 
Intensive  medical  supervision  in  the  metal 

trades.    J.  A.  Turner.     Nation's  Health 

9:  28-30  April,  1927. 

MENTAL   HYGIENE 

Mental  habits  and  proper  exercise  of  mental 
faculties.  C.  C  Burlingame.  Nation's 
Health  9:  51-2  February,  1927. 

Mental  hygiene  in  everyday  life.  C.  R. 
Griffith.    Elec  J  24:  101-7  March,  1927. 


LABOR  COST 

Cutting  labor  cost  in  seasonal  business; 
Goodyear  reduces  turnover  50  per  cent 
in  six  years.  F.  W.  Climer.  il  Manuf 
Ind  13:  361-4  May,  1927. 

Example  of  phenomenal  development  due 
to  full  use  of  natural  resources,  Birming- 
ham, Alabama.  J:  A.  Piquet,  il  chart 
Ind  Management  73:  358-63  June,   1927. 

Holding  labor  costs  to  standard.  L.  A. 
Sylvester.  Manuf  Ind  13:  441-4  June, 
1927. 

Reducing  labor  cost.  L.  A.  Sylvester. 
Manuf   Ind   13:  353-8   May,    1927. 

LABOR  TURNOVER 

Comparative  stability  of  male  and  female 
employees.  Monthly  Labor  R  24:  903-5 
May  1927. 

Cutting  labor  cost  in  seasonal  business; 
Goodyear  reduces  turnover  50  per  cent  in 
six  years.  F.  W.  Climer.  il  Manuf 
Ind  13:  361-4  May,  1927. 

Factory  labor  turnover,  1919-1926.  Survey 
of  Cur  Business  67:  25  March,  1927. 

Factory  labor  turnover — two  new  monthly 
indexes.  W.  A.  Berridge.  Monthly 
Labor  R  24:  479-83  March,  1927. 

Labor  turnover.  H.  E.  Kaemmer.  Textile 
World  71:  3465  May  28,  1927. 

LABOR  TURNOVER — BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Labor  turnover — a  selected  bibliography. 
P.  F.  Brissenden,  comp.  Monthly 
Labor  R  24:  842-57  April,  1927. 


mental  hygiene,  industrial 

Mental  hygiene  considerations  in  business. 
H.  W.  Stevens.  Nation's  Health  9: 
5.5-6  February,  1927. 

MONOTONY 

Discussion  on  the  physical  and  mental 
effects  of  monotony  in  modern  industry; 
abstract.  J.  Ind  Hj^giene  9:  sup  100-1 
May,  1927. 

MOTION   AND  TIME   STUDY 

Better    methods    a   time-study    objective. 

H.  DiEMER.    Manuf  Ind  13:  205-8  March 

1927. 
Comparison   of   time   and   motion   studies. 

S.     M.     LowRY.     Am     Mach     66:  561-3 

April  7,  1927. 
Labor  costs  at  the  lowest  figure;  motion- 
time    analysis.     A.    B.    Segur.     Manuf 

Ind  13:  271-4  April,  1927. 
More  production  from  motion-time  analysis 

of  work.    A.  B.  Segur.    Manuf  Ind  13: 

445-6  June,  1927. 
Time    and    motion    study    developments. 

L.    M.    GiLBRETH.    Am    Mach    66:  872 

May  19,  1927. 
Time-study  methods  for  mining  operations. 

G.  T.  Harley.    Eng  &  Min  J  123:  722-9 

April  30,  1927. 


Physical  and  mental  effects  of  noise.  D.  A. 
Laird.  Monthly  Labor  R  24:  947-9  May, 
1927. 


Current  Periodicals 


225 


OFFICE    WORKERS 

Am  I  underpaying  or  overpaying  my  men? 
C:  J.  McGuiRK.  Ptr  Ink  138:  57-8+ 
March  31,  1927. 

Salaries  of  office  employees  in  Massachu- 
setts. Monthly  Labor  R  24:  141-3  Jan- 
uary, 1927. 

OFFICES — LAYOUT 

Arranging  office  equipment  efficiently.  V: 
Cahalin.  plans  Ind  Management  73: 
214-17  April,  1927. 

PERSONALITY 

Developing  a  pleasing  personality.    W.  W. 

Charters.     Sibley  J  41:   108-10+  April, 

1927. 
Key    to    greater    earning    power.    C.    W. 

Steffler.    Comm      &      Fin      16:  645-7 

March  30,  1927. 

PHYSICAL  EXAMINATIONS 

Automatic  health  control.  D.  W.  Deal. 
Ry  Age  82:  1519  May  21,  1927. 

Periodic  health  examinations  and  pre- 
ventive medicine.  E.  B.  Edie.  Nation's 
Health  9:   12-13  April,  1927. 

Voluntary  medical  examination  an  indus- 
trial success,  il  Nation's  Health  9: 
49-50  April,  1927. 

profit  sharing 

How  to  reconcile  relations  between  the  con- 
sumer, the  producer  and  the  wage  earner; 
proposed  national  commonwealth  fund. 
A.  Gridley.  Electrician  98:  464  April 
29,  1927. 

Profit-sharing  for  Fifth  Avenue  Coach  Co. 
employees.  Elec  Ry  J  69:  629  April  2, 
1927;  Bus  Transportation  6:  292  May, 
1927. 

RATE  SETTING 

Setting  correct  rates  on  repair  jobs  without 
excessive  office  work.  J.  Winston.  Ind 
Management    73:  169-70    March,     1927. 

RATING 

Rating  a  rating  scale.  D.  Fryer.  Ind 
Management  73:  301-2  May,  1927. 


RECREATION 

Outdoor  recreation  for  industrial  em- 
ployees, il  Monthly  Labor  R  24:  867-82 
May,  1927. 

RESEARCH 

Applying  scientific  knowledge  to  the  small 
plant;  cooperation  in  research  suggested. 
D.  S.  Cole.  Ind  Management  73:  15.5-60 
March,    1927. 

Industrial  research  as  a  definite  factor  in 
world  trade.  A.  C.  Lescarboura.  il 
Dun's  Int  R  49:  30-9  May,  1927. 

Industrial  research — where  the  college  fits 
in.  P.  M.  Heldt.  Automotive  Ind  56: 
355-6  March  5,  1927. 

Outline  for  industrial  research.  H.  V. 
Hansen.  Chem  &  Met  Eng  34:  162-3 
March,    1927. 

Report  of  the  Department  of  scientific  and 
industrial  research  for  the  year  1925-26 
Engineer  143:  349-50  April  1,  1927: 
Engineering  123:  410-12  April  8,  1927 
Elec  R  (Lond)  100:  .539-40  April  1,  1927 
Gas  J  (Lond)  177:  81.5-16  March  30,  1927 

Review  of  scientific  and  industrial  research; 
government's  relation  to  industry.  Chem 
Age    (Lond)    16:  301-2   March  26,    1927. 

Two  types  of  industrial  research.  M. 
Freyd.  Harvard  Business  R  5:  293-7 
April,    1927. 

REST   PERIODS 

Rest  periods  increase  production  20  per 
cent.  R.  B.  Williams.  Manuf  Ind  13: 
375-6  May,  1927. 


Can  an  entire  industry  run  a  month  without 
an  accident?  A.  J.  R.  Curtis,  il 
Factory  38:  882-3  May,    1927. 

Practical  accident  prevention  in  small 
plants.  R.  E.  Prouty.  Safety  Eng  53: 
214-16  May,   1927 

Safety  in  factories.  Engineer  143:  558 
May  20,  1927. 

Where  cooperation  has  canceled  compul- 
sion. C.  T.  Fish,  il  Nat  Safety  N  15: 
24-6  June,  1927. 

Fewer  accidents  by  analyzing  causes. 
R.  E.  Motley.  Manuf  Ind  13:  189-93 
March,  1927. 


226 


Current  Periodicals 


SAFETY — ELECTRIC     LIGHT     AND     POWER 
COMPANIES 

Safety  and  the  electrical  industry;  New 
York  Edison  company's  experience.  A. 
C.  Carruthers.  Safety  Eng  53:  205-9 
May,  1927. 

SAFETY — MOTOR   BUS   LINES 

Intelligence,  education,  supervision  re- 
quired for  safety  on  the  highway.  F.  S. 
HoBBS.  Bus  Transportation  6:  323-4 
June,  1927. 

Organizing  motorbus  operators  for  greater 
safety.  R.  D.  Xester.  Nat  Safety  N 
15:  38  June,  1927. 

safety — RAILROADS 

Educating  drivers  as  to  hazards;  "North- 
western Pacific  campaign.  W.  S.  Woll- 
NER.     Ry  Age  82:    1593-4  May  28,   1927. 

Safety  section  reports  a  19  per  cent  reduc- 
tion of  accidents.  Ry  Age  82:  1339-43 
April  30,  1927;  Nat  Safety  N  15:  66+ 
June,  1927. 

Stores  department  safety  practices;  A.  R. 
A.  report.  Ry  Age  82:  1623-«  May  28, 
1927. 

SAFETY — STREET  RAILROADS 

Promoting  safety  by  awards  to  men.  L. 
A.  Potter.     Aera  17:  680-9  June,   1927. 

Seeing  what  the  motorman  sees.  L.  R. 
Brown,  il  Elec  Ry  J  68:  96^-4  Novem- 
ber 27,  1926;  Same.  Nat  Safety  N  15: 
17-18  June,  1927. 

SEAMEN 

Safety  in  selection.  F.  P.  Foisie.  Nat 
Safety  N  15:  52-3  June,  1927. 

SELECTION   OF  EMPLOYEES 

Can  psychology  help  in  the  selection  of 

personnel?    J.     B.     Watson.    Ptr     Ink 

139:  69-70+   April  21,    1927. 
Do  you  select  employees  by  a  Bertillion 

system?    Ptr  Ink  139:  49-50  April  7,  1927. 
How    the    credit    manager    hires.     E.    C. 

Martin.    Credit  M  29:   10+  June,  1927. 
Who  reads  the  replies  to  a  "man  wanted" 

advertisement?    R.    Hawley.     Ptr    Ink 

139:  97-8  May  5,  1927. 


SICK   LEAVE 


Sick  leave  with  pay  for  factory  workers. 
Monthly  Labor  R  24:  687-8  April,  1927. 


Relation  between  extent  and  contrast  for 

the    threshold    visual    stimulus.     P.    W. 

Cobb  and  F.  K.  Moss.    J  Fr  Inst  203: 

585  April,  1927. 
Vision  as  influenced  by  a  light-source  in  the 

field  of   view.    L.   L.  Holladay.    J  Fr 

Inst  203:  584  April,  1927. 

standardization 

Evolution  of  standardization  in  industry  . 
N.  F.  Harriman.  Ind  Management  73  : 
1166-9  March,  1927. 

statistics 

Competitive    factor    in    skewness.    H.    J. 

Banker.     Am    Statis    Assn    J    22:  9-21 

March,  1927. 
Dilemma    of    the    new    statistics.     L.    P. 

Ayres.    Am  Statis  Assn  J  22:  1-8  March, 

1927. 

stock   OWNERSHIP 

Modern  business  leader  discovers  real 
success;  William  T.  Grant,  merchant. 
C.  W.  Wood.  Forbes  19:  10-12+  June, 
1927. 

Why  I  turned  1/3  of  my  stock  over  to  em- 
ployees. G.  Eastm\n.  Mag  of  Business 
51:  750-3  f  June,  1927. 

TRADE   MARKS 

Psychologist's  method  of  getting  unbiased 
data.  Ptr  Ink  138:  117-18+  March  17, 
1927;  Discussion.  H.  K.  Nixon.  139: 
44  April  28,  1927. 

TRAINING 

Description  of  the  Henry  Ford  trade  school. 

F.    E.    Searle.    Mech    Eng    49:  570-2 

sec  2  May,  1927. 
Educating  employes,   who   are  two   kinds, 

conscious  and  unconscious.      P.  G.  Van- 

DERSMiTH.    Pub   Scrv    Management   42: 

200-1  June,  1927. 


Current  Periodicals 


227 


Education    of    gas    company    employees. 

F.    B.   Lachle.     Am   Gas   J   126:  511-12 

May  21,   1927. 
Train  employees  for  better  jobs;  courses  in 

educational  program  of  American  rolling 

mill  CO.    B.  Finney,     il  Iron  Age  119: 

13.57-9  May  12,  1927. 
Training    electric    railway    employees    for 

their    jobs.    A.    J.    Sarre.    Elec    Ry    J 

69:  831-3  May  7,  1927. 
Utility  employee  education.    Elect  W  89: 

970  May  7,  1927. 
Value   to   the   gas   company   of   educating 

employees.    P.    G.    Vandersmith.    Gas 

Age  59:  783-4+  May  28,  1927. 


TR  AINING — AVIATORS 


Learning  to  fly.    C.  Jones. 
131:  23-6  May,  1927. 


'Ann  Am  Acad 


TRAINING — DE  AF 

Training  and  placement  of  the  deaf  in  Min- 
nesota. Monthly  Labor  R  24:  715-17 
April,  1927. 


TRAINING — executives 

Training  future  officers  on  the  London  & 
North  Eastern.  R.  Bell.  Ry  Age  82: 
1142-3  April  9,  1927. 

Training  the  owner's  son.  W.  A.  Viall. 
Am  Mach  66:  891-2  May  26,  1927;  Same 
cond.  Iron  Age  119:  1440+  May  19, 
1927;  Same  cond.  Iron  Tr  R  80:  1276 
May  19,  1927;  Same  cond.  Mach  33:  743-4 
June,  1927. 


TRAINING — MOTOR   BUS   DRIVERS 

Akron  bus  operators  get  diplomas  on  com- 
pleting training  course.  Aera  17:  676-9 
June,  1927. 

From  rookie  to  driver  in  ten  steps.  E.  S. 
Pardoe.  Bus  Transportation  6:  195-6 
April,  1927. 

N.  O.  P.  &  L.  bus  school  completes  first 
year.     Elec  Ry  J  69:   1002  June  4,  1927. 

TR.UNING — SALESMEN 

How  Studebaker  selects  and  trains  salesmen 

for  the  dealer  and  the  corporation.     K. 

A.  Metzerott.    Ptr  Ink  138:  88+  March 

24,  1927. 
Unique  plan  for  training  salesmen.     J.  H. 

Reed.     Am  Gas  J  126:  531  May  28,  1927. 

TRAINING — SHEET  METAL   WORKERS 

Outline  study  course  in  sheet  metal.  D: 
A.  Graham,  il  Sheet  Metal  Worker  18: 
3-4+  February  11,  1927. 

VOCATIONAL   GUIDANCE 

Vocational  guidance  in  business.  D. 
Fryer.  Ind  Management  73:  366-71 
June,  1927. 

WOMEN 

Comparative  stability  of  male  and  female 
employees.  Monthly  Labor  R  24:  903-5 
May,  1927. 

Status  of  women  in  the  government  service 
in  1925.  B.  M.  Nienburg.  Q.  S. 
Women's  Bur  Bui  53:  1-103  1926;  Ab- 
stract. Monthly  Labor  R  23:  1254-6 
December,  1926. 

Women  in  railroad  service.  Ry  Age  82: 
1464  May  14,  1927. 


ABBREVIATIONS 

Adv  &  Sell Advertising  and  Selling 

Am  Gaa  J American  Gas  Journal 

Am  Mach American  Machinist 

Am  Statis  Assn  J .American  Statistical  Association  Journal 

Ann  Am  Aca  '   Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and 

Social  Science 
Automotive  Ind Automotive  Industries 

Chem  Age  (Lond) Chemical  Age 

Chem  &  Met  Eng Chemical  and  Metallurgical  Engineering 

Com  and  Fin Commerce  and  Finance 

Credit  M Credit  Monthly 


228  Current  Periodicals 

Dun's  Int  R Dun's  International  Review 

Elec  J Electrical  Journal 

Elec  R  (Lond) Electrical  Review 

Elec  Ry  J Electrical  Railway  Journal 

Eng  &  Min  J Engineering  and  Mining  Journal 

Elec  W Electrical  World 

Gas  J  (Lond) Gas  Journal 

Harvard  Business  R Harvard  Business  Review 

Ind  Management Industrial  Management 

Int  Labor  R International  Labour  Review 

Iron  Tr  R Iron  Trade  Review 

J  Eng  Educ Journal  of  Engineering  Education 

J  Fr  Inst Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute 

J  Ind  Hygiene Journal  of  Indusrialt  Hygiene 

Mach Machinery 

Mag  of  Business Magazme  of  Business 

Management  R Management  Review 

Manuf  Ind Manufacturing  Industries 

Mech  Eng Mechanical  Engineer 

Min  Cong  J Mining  Congress  Journal 

Monthly  Labor  R Monthly  Labor  Review 

Munic  &  Co  Eng Municipal  and  County  Engineering 

N  E  L  A  Bui National  Electric  Light  Association  Bulletin 

Nat  Safety  N National  Safety  News 

Prof  Eng Professional  Enginoer 

Ptr  Ink Printers  Ink 

Pub  Serv  Management Public  Service  Management 

Ry  Age Railway  Age 

Ry  Mech  Eng Ry  Mechanical  Engineer 

Safety  Eng Safety  Engineer 

Sibley  J Sibley  Journal 

Soc  Auto  Eng  J Society  of  Automotive  Engineers  Journal 

Soc  Ing  Civils  Bui Memoirs  et  Comptes  Rendus  des  Travaux  de  la 

Societe     des     Ingenieurs     Civils     de     France 

Bulletin 

Stevens  Ind Stevens  Indicator 

Survey  of  Cur  Business Survey  of  Current  Business 

Taylor  Soc  Bui Bulletin  of  the  Taylor  Society 

U  S  Bur  Labor  Statistics  Bui United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  Bulletin 

U  S  Women's  Bur  Bui United  States  Women's  Bureau  Bulletin 


How  the  Immigrant  Makes  His  Living 

By  Niles  Carpenter,  University  of  Buffalo^ 

It  is  no  news  to  the  personnel  manager  that  immigrant  workers 
exhibit  racial  and  national  trends  in  their  choice  of  occupations. 
But  the  personnel  manager  whose  curiosity  is  satisfied  with  the 
hare  figures  which  demonstrate  this  truth,  is  ignoring  sociological 
and  psychological  facts  which  should  go  far  in  increasing  his 
understanding  of  employees  individually  and  in  the  mass. 
Dr.  Carpenter  has  abstracted  for  us  some  of  the  outstanding  fea- 
tures of  two  recent  studies  he  has  made.  He  leads  us  into  a  well- 
considered  analysis  of  the  occupational  predilections  of  immigrants, 
giving  us  an  insight  into  the  mental  processes  of  these  strangers 
among  us. 

The  foreign-born  workers  exhibit  certain  well-marked  tendencies  as 
regards  their  choice  of  occupation.  The  "old"  North  and  West  Euro- 
pean immigrants  are  more  generally  engaged  in  agriculture  than  the 
"new"  southern  and  eastern  Europeans,  with  the  exception  of  the  Irish, 
among  the  former,  who  stay  in  cities  and  shun  agriculture,  and  the 
Bohemians  and  Moravians,  among  the  latter,  who  are  largely  agri- 
cultural. Among  separate  ethnic  groups,  the  Hebrews  are  remarkable 
for  their  avoidance  of  manual  labor  and  domestic  service,  and  their 
concentration  in  skilled  and  semi-skilled  labor,  clerical  work,  trade, 
and  the  professions.  The  "peasant  stock"  immigrants,  such  as  Italians 
and  Poles,  are  heavily  engaged  in  unskilled  labor,  the  Italians  showing 
a  preference  for  outdoor  work.  The  EngHsh,  Scotch,  and  Welsh  are 
poorly  represented  among  farmers  and  heavily  among  coal  miners. 
The  Irish  males  show  a  wide  occupational  diversification,  the  women, 
however,  showing  a  strong  predilection  for  domestic  service.  The 
Scandinavians  are  concentrated  in  agriculture,  in  part,  perhaps,  because 
this  occupation  enables  them  to  live  under  climatic  conditions  similar 
to  those  in  their  "old  country."  The  analysis  serves  to  show  the 
limitations  of  the  traditional,  lump  classifications  of  "old"  and  "new" 
immigrants. 

IT    IS    generally    recognized    by  little  has  been  done  by  way  of  scientific 

personnel  managers  that  various  analysis  of  the   degree  and  kind  of 

immigrant  groups  differ  markedly  differentiation  between  the  major  im- 

as  regards  their  occupational  choices  migrant  nationalities  in  these  respects. 

and   capacities.     However,   relatively  '    ~~  71  ~ 

er's  recently  pubhshed  Census  Monograph 

^  This  article  summarizes  a  portion  of      entitled  "Immigrants  and  Their  Children." 

the  chapter  on  "Occupations"  in  the  writ-      It  contains  incidental  reference  to  a  more 

229 

THE   PERSONNEL  JOXJRNAL,    VOL.    VI,    NO.   4 


230 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  Makes  Living 


Moreover,  such  studies  as  have  been 
made  tend  to  obscure  many  signifi- 
cant tendencies  by  lumping  together — 
in  accordance  with  a  long-standing 
tradition  among  students  of  immigra- 
tion— the  "old"  and  "new"  immigrant 
nationahties. 

In  the  course  of  a  stud}'-  of  the 
statistics  concerning  the  immigrant 
and  his  children  contained  in  the 
14th  (1920)  United  States  Census, 
the  writer  was  able  to  secure  a  special 
tabulation  of  a  little  under  a  half 
million  gainfully  occupied  male  and 
female  immigrants,  ten  years  of  age 
and  over,  belonging  to  15  nationality 
and  language  groups  in  sLx  states  .^ 
The  tabulation  covered  seven  different 
occupations  for  the  males,  and  six  for 
the  females,  each  occupation  being 
selected  as  typical  of  a  considerable 
occupational  category,  as,  for  example, 
physicians  and  surgeons,  as  typical  of 
professional  service  among  the  males, 
and  school  teachers  as  typical  of 
professional  service  among  females. 

A  dual  basis  of  classification  was 
adopted.  In  the  first  place,  each 
occupation  was  classified  according 
to  the  percentage  of  the  total  group 

recent  study,  "Nationality,  Color  and 
Economic  Opportunity  in  Buffalo,"  con- 
ducted by  the  writer  and  a  number  of  as- 
sociates, which  has  just  been  published 
jointly  by  the  University  of  Buffalo  and 
The  Inquiry  of  New  York.  The  first  study 
is  referred  to  throughout  this  article  as 
"Census  Monograph,"  and  the  second 
study  is  referred  to  as  "University  of 
Buffalo  Monograph." 

^  The  states  selected  were  those  having 
the  largest  number  of  foreign  born  persons 
employed  in  each  of  the  occupations 
covered.  They  were:  Massachusetts,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Minnesota,  and  Wis- 
consin. 


that  each  ethnic  group  composed. 
Tables  1  and  3  show  the  results  of  this 
classification.  In  the  second  place, 
each  ethnic  group  was  classified  accord- 
ing to  the  percentage  engaged  in  each 
occupational  group.  Tables  2  and  4 
are  concerned  with  this  classification. 
Tables  5  and  6  are  summary  tables 
derived  from  tables  2  and  4. 

The  data  are  subject  to  certain 
hmitations  due  mainly  to  the  circum- 
stances attending  their  tabulation. 
They  represent  only  certain  states 
and  only  certain  occupations.  Fur- 
thermore they  are  confined  only  to 
the  foreign  born  and  more  than  that 
only  to  those  of  the  foreign  born 
falling  into  these  15  ethnic  groups. 
Again,  there  is  no  correction  for  age 
other  than  the  fact  that  children 
under  ten  are  not  included;  nor  for 
length  of  residence  in  the  United 
States.  Finally,  in  being  based  on 
the  Census  of  1920,  they  are  some- 
what out  of  date. 

Nevertheless,  considering  the  very 
substantial  number  of  cases  covered 
and  considering  the  industrial  and 
economic  significance  of  the  states 
considered  in  the  tabulation,  it  is 
probable  that  the  data  are  fairly 
typical  within  certain  broad  limits, 
particularly  as  regards  the  principal 
objective  of  the  tabulation;  namely 
the  significant  differences  existing  be- 
tween the  ethnic  groups  considered. 
That  is  to  say,  while  the  material  has 
only  limited  significance  concerning 
the  total  labor  population,  it  may  be 
regarded  as  diagnostic  of  the  differ- 
ences obtaining  among  these  15  na- 
tionality and  language  groups  as 
regards  their  occupational  preferences. 

Proceeding  on  this  restricted  basis 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  Makes  Living 


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234 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  Makes  Living 


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Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  INIakes  Lmng 


235 


TABLE  5 
Ethnic  group  most  prominent  in  each  typical  occupation,  by  sex,  in  certain  states:  1920* 


MALES 

OCCUPATION 

FEMALES 

OCCUPATION 

Ethnic  group 

Per 
cent 

Ethnic  group 

Per 
cent 

Farmers      . .    .        

Germans 

Polish 

Germans 

Yiddish 

Polish 

Italian 

Yiddish 

Yiddish 

33.2 
33.1 

18.8 

16.3 
25.2 
50.0 
27.8 
40.9 

Semiskilled  operatives — 
clothing  factories 

Semiskilled  operatives — 
cotton  factories 

Telephone  operators 
Teachers  ("school) 
Domestic  servants 
Stenographers  and 
typists 

Yiddish 

French 
Canad- 
ian 

Irish 
Irish 
Irish 

Yiddish 

43  9 

Coal-mine  operatives 

Foremen    and    overseers 
(manufacturings . 

Carpenters 

33.7 

24.7 

Laborers — blast  furnaces  . 
Laborers — steam  railroad 
Physicians  and  surgeons 
Salesmen  (stores) 

21.4 
43.0 

42.7 

*Derived  from  Tables  1  and  3. 


TABLE  6 
Occupations  most  generally  entered  by  foreign  born  oj  selected  ethnic  groups,  in 

certain  states:  1920* 


MALE3 

FEM-4XES 

ETHNIC  GROUP 

Occupation 

Per 
cent 

Occupation 

Per 

cent 

All  foreign  born.. 

Farmers 

33.7 

Domestic  servants 

41.0 

English 

Coal-mine  operatives 

41.1 

Semiskilled    operatives — 
cotton  factories 

40.9 

Irish 1 

Coal-mine  operatives 
Carpenters. 

|l8.5 

Domestic  servants 

81.3 

Swedish 

Farmers 
Farmers 

81.4 
87.3 

Domestic  servants 
Domestic  servants 

86.9 

Norwegian 

86.2 

Danish 

Fanners 
Farmers 
Coal-mine  operatives 

88.2 
64.7 
34.0 

Domestic  servants 
Domestic  servants 
Semiskilled  operatives — 

72.1 

German 

69.8 

Russian 

54.0 

clothing  factories 

Italian 

Coal-mine  operatives 

50.2 

Semiskilled  operatives — 
clothing  factories 

82.6 

Bohemian  and 

Farmers 

77.6 

Domestic  servants 

78.3 

Moravian 

Slovak 

Coal  mine  operatives 
Coal-mine  operatives 

69.3 
61.1 

Domestic  servants 
Semiskilled  operatives — 

85.9 

Polish 

50.4 

cotton  factories 

Yiddish 

Salesmen  (stores) 

59.7 

Semiskilled  operatives — 

67.3 

clothing  factories. 

English  Canadian 

Farmers 

74.3 

Domestic  servants 

38.0 

French  Canadian 

Farmers 

79.2 

Semiskilled  operatives — 
cotton  factories 

93.8 

Mexican 

Laborers — blast  furnaces 

47.6 

Domestic  servants 

&8.1 

■Derived  from  Tables  2  and  4. 


236 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  flakes  Living 


of  analysis,  one  finds  two  interesting 
tendencies  in  the  occupational  dis- 
tribution of  the  ethnic  groups  among 
the  foreign  born.  The  first  is  the 
trend  away  from  farming  on  the  part 
of  the  newer  immigrants.  The  second 
is  the  evidence  that  certain  ethnic 
and  national  groups  have  well-defined 
occupational  preferences,  particularly 
the  Hebrews,  the  English,  Scotch  and 
Welsh,  the  Irish,  and  the  Scandina- 
vians. 

"new"  immigrants  drift  atvay 
from  agriculture 

Tables  1  and  2  bring  out  the  first 
tendency,  namely,  the  drift  away 
from  agriculture  among  the  "new" 
immigrant  group.  Table  1  shows  that 
the  six  "old"  immigrant  groups, 
namely,  the  English,  Scotch,  and 
Welsh,  the  Irish,  Swedish,  Norwegian, 
Danish,  and  German  make  up  76.3 
per  cent  of  those  recorded  as  farmers, 
as  against  12  per  cent  for  the  six 
"new"  immigrant  groups — that  i^, 
the  Russian,  Bohemian  and  Moravian, 
Italian,  Polish,  Slovak,  and  Yiddish. 
Moreover,  it  is  seen  from  table  2  that 
all  but  one  of  the  "old"  immigrant 
groups  display  a  higher  percentage 
engaged  in  farming  than  do  any  of 
the  "new,"  excepting  the  Bohemian 
and  Moravian. 

The  precise  percentages  do  not,  of 
course,  carry  any  particular  weight, 
because  of  the  restricted  nature  of 
the  data  from  which  they  have  been 
computed.  They  are,  however,  suffi- 
ciently striking  to  be  accepted  as 
being  at  least  indicative  of  a  much 
greater  concentration  in  agriculture 
on  the  part  of  the  older  generation  of 


immigrants  than  among  those  of 
today.  Moreover,  this  evidence  is 
corroborated  by  the  conclusions  which 
have  been  reached  elsewhere,  par- 
ticularly those  relating  to  the  heavy 
settlement  in  rural  districts — for  ex- 
ample, in  the  northern  Mississippi 
"S'^alley — of  those  foreigners  who  mi- 
grated to  America  20  years  or  more 
ago. 3 

It  may  be  observed,  in  passing, 
that  the  Irish  stand  out  in  sharp 
contrast  from  the  other  northwest 
Europeans  in  that  among  them  the 
farmers  come  to  only  13.5  per  cent, 
and  that  they  make  up  a  bare  1.3  per 
cent  of  all  those  shown  as  engaged  in 
this  occupation.  In  this  connection 
it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the  Irish 
are  one  of  the  most  unmistakably  ur- 
banized immigrant  groups  in  this 
country.* 

The  Bohemians  and  Moravians,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  out  of  line  with 
the  other  central,  south,  and  east 
Europeans.  They  compose  3.2  per 
cent  of  all  those  recorded  as  engaged 
in  farming,  and  77.6  per  cent  of 
them  are  shown  as  employed  in  this 
occupation,  a  higher  proportion  than 
is  exhibited  by  the  English,  Scotch, 
and  Welsh,  or  by  the  Germans. 
This  result  is  not  surprising.  The 
Bohemians  and  Moravians,  or  Czechs, 
really  are  "old"  immigrants,  as  to 
year  of  migration,  and  as  to  other 
characteristics,  although  they  fall 
within  the  territorial  limits  usually 
assigned  as  the  homeland  of  the 
"new"  immigration. 

3  Cf .  Census  Monograph,  Ch.  IV,  Table 
40,  p.  67. 

*  Census  Monograph,  Ch.  IV,  p.  141. 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  Makes  Living 


237 


OCCUPATIONAL    PREFERENCES    OF    CER- 
TAIN  GROUPS 

The  second  interesting  feature  re- 
vealed by  these  tables  is  the  evidence 
of  clearly  defined  ethnic  and  national 
characteristics  in  the  occupational 
preferences  of  certain  groups. 

HEBREW 

The  most  noteworthy  are  those 
shown  by  the  Hebrews,  represented 
in  these  tables  by  the  Yiddish-speak- 
ing group,  and  by  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  Russians.  Table  1 
indicates  that  the  Yiddish  make  up  a 
bare  0.1  per  cent  of  all  those  engaged 
in  farming,  and  but  0.4  and  0.5  per 
cent,  respectively,  of  those  employed 
as  blast-furnace  and  steam-railroad 
laborers.  They  are,  on  the  other 
hand,  16.8  per  cent  of  the  manufactur- 
ing foremen,  16.3  per  cent  of  the  car- 
penters, 27.8  per  cent  of  the  physicians 
and  surgeons,  and  40.9  per  cent  of 
the  salesmen  in  stores.*  Table  5, 
moreover,  shows  that  in  three  out  of 
four  of  these  last-named  occupations 
the  Yiddish-speaking  group  lead 
among  the  foreign  born.  Again,  from 
table  2,  it  is  seen  that  only  0.6  per 
cent  of  the  Hebrew  males  are  em- 
ployed as  farmers,  0.3  per  cent  as 
coal-mine  operatives,  0.6  per  cent  as 
blast-furnace  laborers,  and  0.3  per 
cent  as  steam-railroad  laborers,  but 
7.6  per  cent  as  manufacturing  fore- 
men and  overseers,  4.1  per  cent  as 
physicians  and  surgeons,  26.6  per 
cent  as  carpenters,  and  59.7  per  cent 
as  salesmen  in  stores. 

The  Hebrew  women  exhibit  similar 
tendencies.     The  Yiddish-speaking  fe- 


males compose  only  3.1  per  cent  of 
the  foreign-born  women  employed  in 
domestic  service,  but  they  are  7.2 
per  cent  of  the  telephone  operators, 
9.7  per  cent  of  the  school-teachers, 
43.9  per  cent  of  the  semiskilled 
clothing  factory  operatives,  and  42.7 
per  cent  of  the  stenographers  and 
typists.*  And  table  3  shows  this 
element  to  be  the  most  numerous 
group  in  the  last  two  of  these  types 
of  employment. 

There  seems  to  be  a  clear  disposition 
among  the  men  and  women  of  this 
ethnic  group  to  avoid  heavy  manual 
labor  and  farming  and  to  engage  in 
skilled  or  semiskilled  work  and  in 
commercial,  clerical,  managerial,  and 
professional  pursuits.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  relate  this  type  of  behavior  to 
the  urban  tendency  that  appears  to 
characterize  the  Hebrews,  not  only  in 
the  United  States,  but  also  in  Europe. 
Obviously,  a  race  of  city  dwellers 
would  be  ill-suited  for  agricultural 
work.  Moreover,  they  would  be  bet- 
ter trained  than  would  a  peasant 
population  for  skilled  and  semiskilled 
labor,  and  for  clerical,  managerial, 
and  professional  work,  which  are 
typically  associated  with  town  life. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  the  Hebrew 
foreign  born  are  merely  taking  up 
occupations  learned  in  "the  old  coun- 
try." Such  could  not  be  the  case 
with  the  women  employed  as  factory 
operatives,  but  it  does  seem  that  they 
bring  with  them  to  this  country  at 
least  a  disposition  to  take  up  certain 
occupations,  and  in  many  cases  they 

*  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  only  the 
foreign-born  whites  in  each  of  these  occu- 
pations are  counted. 


238 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  Makes  Living 


probably  already  have  a  specific  train- 
ing for  the  vocations  which  they 
adopt  in  America. 

A  study  recently  made  by  the  writer 
in  Buffalo  lends  further  support  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Hebrews  are 
a  distinct  occupational  group.  When 
consideration  was  given  to  training 
and  experience,  the  Jewish  women 
were  found  to  have  an  earning 
power  in  clerical  work  inferior  only 
to  that  of  the  native  white  women 
and  the  English-speaking  immigrant 
women.  Furthermore  out  of  1480 
women  employed  in  manual  occupa- 
tions in  nine  establishments,  only  one 
was  classified  as  Jewish;  and  out  of 
5427  men  employed  in  manual  occupa- 
tions in  these  same  establishments, 
only  18  were  Jewish.^ 

It  is  also  interesting  to  note  that  a 
recent  European  study  summarized 
in  table  7  gives  evidence  of  a  wide- 
spread avoidance  of  manual  occupa- 
tions on  the  part  of  Jewish  inhabitants 
of  Eastern  Europe. 

FOREIGNERS  OF  PEASANT  STOCK 

On  the  other  hand,  those  foreigners 
of  peasant  stock — such  as  are  most  of 
the  other  present-day  immigrants — are 
fitted  neither  by  aptitude  nor  educa- 
tion for  anything  but  agriculture  or 
heavy  labor.  In  default  of  extensive 
opportunities  in  the  former  hues  of 
employment,  they  have  turned  into 
the   latter,    as    represented    in    these 

« Cf.  University  of  Buffalo  Monograph, 
Chs.  VI  and  VIII.  See  also  Carpenter  and 
Wagner,  Relation  of  Nationality  and  Reli- 
gion to  Earning  Power  Among  Women  Cleri- 
cal Workers,  Social  Forces,  September, 
1926. 


tables    by    blast-furnace    and   steam- 
railroad  labor,  and  by  coal  mining. 

There  may  be  some  significance  in 
the  distinction  between  the  particular 
types  of  unskilled  occupation  selected 
by  these  peasant  groups.  Thus,  table 
5  shows  that  among  the  foreign  born 
of  the  coal-mine  operatives,  the 
Polish  predominate  as  they  do  also 
among   the    blast-furnace   operatives; 

TABLE  7 

Source  of  income  of  Jewish  populations  in 

Ukraine  and  White  Russia  in 

the  year  1924* 


UKRAINE 

WHITE  RUSSIA 

OCCUPATION 

Number 

Per 

cent 

20.1 
6.7 

7.2 

7.1 

4.9 

54.0 

Number 

Per 
cent 

Artisans 

Wage  earners. 
Government 

officials 

Professions . .  . 
Agriculture. . . 
Traders 

327,000 
109,000 

116,000 

115,000 

80,000 

878,000 

84,000 
28,000 

18,000 

15,000 

30,000 

272,000 

18.8 
6.3 

4.1 

3.4 

6.7 

60.7 

Total 

1,625,000 

100.0 

448,000 

100.0 

*  Billikopf  and  Hexter — The  Jewish  Situ- 
ation in  Eastern  Europe  Including  Russia, 
Joint  Report  as  delivered  at  the  National 
Conference  of  the  United  Jeunsh  Campaign 
and  the  Joint  Distribution  Committee,  Chi- 
cago, October  9-10,  1926. 

whereas  among  the  steam-railroad 
laborers,  the  Italians  are  the  leading 
foreign-born  group.  In  the  progress 
of  the  Buffalo  study,  the  writer  was 
frequently  told  that  the  Italians  pre- 
ferred "outside"  work  and  would 
desert  mill  and  factory  work  for  out- 
door jobs  whenever  they  had  an 
opportunity.  It  may  be  that  their 
greater  habituation  to  outdoor  work, 
due  to  their  being  reared  in  a  southern 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  Makes  Living 


239 


climate,  makes  the  Italians  shun 
inside  occupations  when  they  come 
to  this  country.  In  this  connection, 
it  is  worth  noting  that  the  Italians 
show  some  disposition  to  settle  in 
the  sourhtern  parts  of  the  United 
States  and  in  Cahfornia.^ 

ENGLISH,    SCOTCH,   AND   WELSH 

The  English,  Scotch,  and  Welsh  are 
notable    for    their    relatively    small 
representation  in  farming  and  their 
large  representation  in  coal  mining. 
They  make  up  only  3.3  per  cent  of 
the  foreign-born  farmers  recorded  in 
table  1,  which  is  less  than  the  quota 
of  any  other  "old"  immigrant  group 
except  the  Irish,  while  they  are  8.1 
per  cent  of  the  coal-mine  operatives, 
which  is  more  than  the  quota  of  all 
the   other    five    northwest    European 
groups  combined.     Moreover,  in  table 
2  only  18.1  per  cent  of  the  natives  of 
England,    Scotland,    and    Wales    are 
found  in  farming  as  contrasted  with 
41.1   per  cent  engaged  as  coal-mine 
operatives.    As  elsewhere  in  this  sec- 
tion of   this   article,  no  significance 
attaches    to    the    exact    percentages 
just  cited.     The  tables  do,  however, 
indicate    that    the    English,    Scotch, 
and   Welsh  are   probably  much  less 
occupied  in  farming  and  much  more 
engaged  in  coal  mining  than  most  of 
the    other     "old"    immigrants.     The 
explanation  of  this  tendency  is  ob- 
vious.    Great  Britian  has,  for  the  past 
100   years,    undergone    a   process   of 
urbanization  and  industrialization  at 
least   as    pronounced   as   that   which 
this   country  is   experiencing.    As   a 

^  Census  Monograph,  Ch.  V,  Map  6.  Cf . 
also,  Huntington's  Maps  in  Davis  and 
Barnes,  Introductory  Sociology,  pp.  264r-265. 


result,  an  increasing  number  of 
British  natives  are  being  born  and 
reared  out  of  contact  with  farm  life. 
More  than  this,  there  are  extensive 
coal  mines  in  England  and  Wales. 
Consequently,  it  would  seem  that 
the  immigrants  from  those  countries 
are  showing  a  disposition  to  follow 
the  occupational  bent  given  them  by 
their  early  training,  so  that  compara- 
tively few  of  them  take  up  farming, 
while  a  considerable  number  of  them — 
probably  Welsh  for  the  most  part — 
continue  to  mine  coal  in  America,  as 
they  did  in  the  old  country. 

IRISH 

As  has  been  indicated  above,  the 
Irish  males,  like  the  British,  avoid 
agriculture.  Instead,  they  exhibit  a 
wide  diversity  of  occupations.  Table 
1  shows  them  to  compose  all  the  way 
from  1.3  to  10.3  per  cent  of  the  occu- 
pations listed  therein,  and  table  2 
indicates  that  they  are  fairly  heavily 
engaged  in  each  occupation  and  con- 
centrated in  none.  In  fact,  as  is 
brought  out  in  table  6,  the  largest 
proportion  of  Irish  males  engaged  in 
any  single  type  of  employment  is 
only  18.5  per  cent,  which  is  consider- 
ably less  than  the  corresponding  per- 
centage for  any  other  group  in  the 
table.  Moreover,  this  rate  applies  to 
two  occupations,  coal  mining  and 
carpentry. 

The  Irish  females  do  not  display 
such  a  wide  difusion,  for  table  4  shows 
some  81.3  per  cent  of  them  to  be 
engaged  in  domestic  service,  while  of 
all  the  domestic  servants  enumerated 
in  table  3,  43  per  cent  are  Irish. 

There  may  be  some  connection  be- 
tween   this    heavy    concentration   of 


240 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  Makes  Living 


Irish  girls  in  domestic  service,  and  the 
fact  that  the  Irish  are  one  of  the  very 
vew  immigrant  groups  in  which  the 
males  are  outnumbered  by  the  fe- 
males.^ Apparently  the  Irish  women 
established  a  secure  place  for  them- 
selves in  this  line  of  employment 
during  the  height  of  their  migration 
seventy  or  eighty  years  ago  and  have 
found  it  their  most  profitable  field  of 
endeavor  ever  since. 

The  varied  activities  of  the  Irish 
males  are  less  easy  to  explain.  It 
may  be  that,  as  a  group  given  largely 
to  city  life,  they  have  come  to  reflect, 
in  their  choice  of  occupation,  the 
diversified  industrial  development  of 
the  average  American  city. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  some 
24.5  per  cent  of  the  Irish  men  and 
boys  are  shown  in  table  2  to  be  em- 
ployed as  steam  railroad  and  blast 
furnace  laborers.  This  is  a  larger 
percentage  for  these  typical  forms  of 
unskilled  labor  than  that  shown  by 
any  other  "old"  immigrant  group, 
and  for  that  matter  is  higher  than  the 
percentage  in  these  occupations  dis- 
played by  the  Yiddish,  Russians, 
Bohemians,  Moravians  and  Poles 
among  the  "new"  immigrants.  It 
suggests  the  tendency  of  an  agricultural 
people — such  as  many  of  the  Irish 
are — to  drop  into  the  ranks  of  un- 
skilled labor,  if,  after  arriving  in  this 
country,  they  fail  to  continue  in 
farming. 

One  further  observation  concerning 
the  Irish  may  be  offered  on  the  basis 
of  the  Buffalo  study.  This  is  a  clear 
cut  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
Irish   to    concentrate   in   supervisory 

*  Census  Monograph,  Table  77,  p.  169. 


positions,  both  executive  and  shop. 
In  this  study  "probability  coefficients" 
were  figured  for  each  of  a  number  of 
nationality  groups,  these  groups  being 
taken  to  include  both  the  immigrant 
and  his  children.  It  was  found  that 
the  Irish  males  had  a  probability 
coefficient  of  0.13  of  becoming  either 
foremen,  ordinary  office  workers  or 
high  grade  office  and  managerial 
workers  as  compared  with  0.10  for 
the  Germans,  the  only  other  immi- 
grant group  approaching  them  in 
this  respect,  and  0.18  for  the  native 
whites  of  native  parentage.^ 

SCANDINAVIAN   NATIONALITIES 

The  three  Scandinavian  nationalities 
manifest  one  outstanding  tendency. 
This  is  their  heavy  concentration  in 
farming.  Of  the  Swedish  males,  81.4 
per  cent  are  shown  in  table  2  to  be 
farmers;  of  the  Norwegian,  87.3  per 
cent;  and  of  the  Danish,  88.2  per 
cent.  And,  according  to  table  1, 
these  three  groups  together  comprise 
38.5  per  cent  of  all  the  various  ethnic 
groups  engaged  in  farming. 

This  phenomenon  is  easily  explained 
when  it  is  remembered  that  these 
immigrants  come  from  essentially  agri- 
cultural countries.  Moreover,  at  the 
time  of  their  heaviest  migration  to 
the  United  States,  abundant  farm 
land  in  the  northwest  Mississippi 
Valley  was  still  available  for  settle- 
ment. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Germans, 
whose  principal  immigration  to  this 
country  antedates  that  of  the  Scandi- 
navians and  was  therefore  at  a  time 

9  University  of  Buffalo  Study,  Ch.  VI, 
Table  2. 


Carpenter:  How  Immigrant  ]Makes  Living 


241 


when  agricultural  land  was  even  more 
easily  obtainable  than  the  Scandi- 
navians found  it  to  be,  do  not  exhibit 
as  heavy  a  concentration  in  farming. 
Table  2  shows  only  64.7  per  cent  to 
be  thus  engaged,  relatively  less  than 
is  the  case  with  any  of  the  three 
Scandinavian  countries,  besides  the 
Bohemians  and  Moravians,  not  to 
mention  the  English  and  French 
Canadians. 

This  circumstance  may  be  the 
result  of  the  limited  nature  of  the  data 
from  which  these  percentages  have 
been  reckoned.^''  On  the  other  hand, 
it  may  indicate  a  stronger  native 
disposition  toward  farming  among 
the  Scandinavians  than  among  the 
Germans.  That  such  a  difference 
between  the  two  ethnic  groups  exists 
is  suggested  by  the  fact  that  the 
Scandinavians  are  concentrated  in 
the  northwestern  Mississippi  Basin, 
while  the  Germans  have  a  very  con- 

^^  Table  1,  however,  shows  that  the  cal- 
culation of  the  Germans  rests  on  67,457 
cases,  which  ought  to  be  a  sufficiently  large 
"sample"  to  be  fairly  typical  of  the  whole 
German  group. 


siderable  representation  in  the  ur- 
banized and  industrialized  Middle 
Atlantic  region.  It  is  possible  that 
the  Scandinavians  have  sought  a 
climate  somew^hat  similar  to  their 
own,  and  in  doing  so  have  had  to 
settle  in  regions  predominantly  rural, 
and,  by  the  same  token,  have  had  to 
engage  chiefly  in  agriculture.^^ 

It  may,  finally,  be  observed  that 
these  two  studies  serve  to  show  to  the 
student  of  industrial  relations  and  of 
immigration  the  importance  of  mak- 
ing careful  and  detailed  studies  of 
the  economic  behavior  of  separate 
nationality  and  language  groups,  rather 
than  of  such  miscellaneously  assorted 
groups  as  those  included  under  the 
traditional  categories  of  "old"  and 
"new"  immigration.  These  larger 
categories  may  be  useful  for  certain 
purposes.  It  would  seem  that  they 
have  only  limited  value  to  the  execu- 
tive who  is  concerned  to  utiUze  in- 
dividual men  and  women  belonging 
to  individual  nationahties. 

{Manuscript  received  June  10,  1927.) 
^^  Of.  Huntington,  loc.  cil. 


The  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


By  Mary  N.  Winslow,  Women's  Bureau,  United  States  Department  of  Labor 

Miss  Winslow  describes  a  type  of  research  undertaking  luhich  has 
been  avoided  because  the  investigator  is  faced  with  such  a  host  of 
difficidties.  Personnel  research  workers  will  therefore  find  her  de- 
scription of  research  technique  extremely  valuable  and  worthy  of 
careful  reading.  While  the  material  has  not  been  entirely  ana- 
lyzed, the  study  has  developed  to  the  stage  where  Miss  Winslow  is 
able  to  predict  the  results  and  conclusions. 


IN  WHAT  way  and  to  what  extent 
labor  legislation  applying  to 
women  only  has  affected  their 
emplojTnent  in  industry,  has  been 
a  subject  of  investigation  during  the 
past  year  by  the  Women's  Bureau  of 
the  United  States  Department  of 
Labor. 

This  subject  presents  unusually 
difficult  problems  of  investigation  for 
several  different  reasons.  In  the  first 
place,  as  a  result  of  the  controversies 
which  have  raged  over  this  issue  for  a 
number  of  years,  there  was  to  be 
expected  a  certain  crystallization  of 
opinions  which  to  casual  inspection 
might  be  considered  facts  but  which 
for  scientific  analysis  must  be  broken 
down  into  their  component  parts  in 
order  to  examine  the  grain  of  truth 
about  which  they  had  formed. 

In  the  second  place,  also  because  of 
controversies,  there  were  certain  as- 
pects which  must  be  investigated 
whether  or  not  the  indications  were 
that  they  would  yield  profitable  con- 
tribution to  the  subject.  Investiga- 
tion   of    such    aspects    was    required 


simply  to  lay  the  ghosts  which  had 
been  raised  through  years  of  contro- 
versy and  which  nothing  but  definite 
data — even  though  negative — would 
ever  completely  rout.  Therefore,  cer- 
tain subjects  which  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view  might  not  have  been 
included  for  investigation  were  neces- 
sary as  part  of  the  general  scheme  of 
study. 

Aside  from  the  difficulties  of  laying 
out  what  would  be  considered,  as 
well  as  what  was,  an  impartial  investi- 
gation of  a  controversial  question, 
there  were  the  difficulties  inherent  in 
the  subject  itself.  Laws  regulating 
the  employment  of  women  in  industry 
have  been  enacted  in  every  State  of 
the  Union  except  Florida.  These 
laws  differ  in  each  State  in  extent,  in 
requirements,  and  in  appfication. 
Their  possible  effects  are  almost 
numberless  and  can  not  be  measured 
completely  at  any  one  time  nor  in 
any  one  aspect.  Results  in  some  cases 
may  be  progressive,  becoming  more 
important  and  more  tangible  as  the 
years   go   on.     On    the   other   hand. 


242 


WiNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


243 


certain  results  may  immediately  fol- 
low the  enactment  of  a  law,  but  of 
these,  some  may  be  modified  or  off- 
set by  subsequent  developments. 

The  first  delimitation  of  the  subject, 
was  therefore,  the  type  of  effect  which 
was  to  be  looked  for.  The  most 
prominent  result  of  legislation,  and 
the  result  permitting  of  the  most 
exact  measurement,  probably  is  the 
establishment  of  the  standard  stipu- 
lated by  the  law  with  the  concurrent 
social  benefits  resulting  from  such 
improved  standard. 

This  result  would  have  a  definite 
and  pronounced  effect  on  women, 
but  because  of  the  mass  of  material 
which  had  already  been  gathered 
along  these  lines  and  also  because  of 
the  fact  that  this  aspect  of  the  situa- 
tion was  not  under  dispute,  it  was 
not  included  within  the  plan  of  study. 

Another  reaction  which  might  be 
sought  for,  following  legislative  enact- 
ments, would  be  a  slackening  or  a 
stimulation  of  industry.  If,  as  some 
opponents  of  legislation  hold,  the 
effect  of  legislation  is  so  to  hamper 
industry  as  to  cause  shutdowns,  under- 
employment, and  general  "hard 
times,"  or  if,  as  its  advocates  hold,  the 
enforcement  of  standards  through 
legislation  eliminates  the  competition 
of  establishments  running  with  low 
standards  and  stimulates  more  effi- 
cient methods  of  management  and 
industry,  such  results  are  sure  to 
have  an  almost  immediate  effect  on 
women's  employment. 

An  adequate  examination  of  such 
factors,  however,  would  involve  busi- 
ness and  commercial  studies  to  deal 
with  which  the  Women's  Bureau  was 
not  equipped.     It  was  decided  there- 


fore, that  the  immediate  relationship 
between  industrial  prosperity  and 
legislation  should  not  be  included  in 
the  investigation. 

A  third  possible  result  of  legislation 
applying  to  women  only  might  be  a 
curtailment  of  their  opportunity 
through  substitution  of  men  when  it 
was  desired  to  have  conditions  of 
employment  other  than  those  re- 
quired by  law  for  women.  This  was 
the  subject  to  which  the  investiga- 
tion finally  was  limited.  In  other 
words,  the  study  undertaken  was  the 
effect  of  legislation  on  women  as  re- 
flected in  terms  of  their  actual  em- 
ployment and  opportunity  in  industry. 

WHAT  A  MEASUREMENT  OF  THE  EFFECTS 
WOULD   HAVE    TO   SHOW 

Any  adequate  measurement  of  such 
effects  not  only  would  have  to  show 
what  changes  in  working  conditions 
and  opportunities  for  emplojnnent 
accompanied  or  followed  the  enact- 
ment of  special  legislation  for  women, 
but  must  include  a  thorough  exami- 
nation of  such  changes  to  make  sure 
that  they  are  not  the  results  of  other 
industrial  changes  which  were  coinci- 
dent with  or  which  followed  the  legis- 
lation in  question.  The  method  of 
measurement  adopted  was  to  study 
conditions  of  women's  employment 
before  and  after  certain  laws  went 
into  effect,  and  to  compare  present 
conditions  in  States  which  were  regu- 
lated by  law  with  conditions  in  States 
which  were  not  so  regulated.  In 
accordance  with  this  plan,  detailed 
information  was  secured  from  at 
least  two  States  for  each  industry  or 
occupation  studied,  one  State  having 
considerable    legislation    for    women 


244 


WiNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


and  the  other  State  having  Httle  or 
none.  The  information  secured  in- 
cluded a  careful  analysis  of  the  condi- 
tions in  each  estabhshment  wliich 
showed  the  other  factors,  such  as 
manufacturing  methods,  employment 
pohcies,  labor  supply,  vocational  train- 
ing, and  trade-union  organization, 
that  might  have  influenced  women's 
employment  and  been  as  responsible 
as  labor  legislation  for  a  difference  in 
women's  status. 

PROCEDURE  IN  THE  INVESTIGATION 

It  was  necessary,  of  course,  to  adopt 
the  samphng  process  in  order  to 
secure  material  wliich  would  illustrate 
the  subject  adequately.  In  selecting 
these  samples  the  policy  followed 
was  to  take  certain  industries  which 
were  typical  of  different  conditions  of 
women's  employment  in  regard  to 
numbers  and  proportion  of  women 
employed,  increases  or  decreases  in 
such  numbers  and  proportions,  extent 
of  organization,  type  of  work  done, 
amount  of  skill  required,  and  competi- 
tion with  men. 

Six  manufacturing  industries — boots 
and  shoes,  hosiery,  paper  boxes,  elec- 
trical machinery,  (including  apparatus 
and  supplies),  clothing,  and  metal 
products — were  selected  as  typifying 
various  conditions  of  women's  employ- 
ment. In  addition,  as  representing 
special  conditions  and  problems,  study 
was  made  of  women's  employment  in 
stores  and  as  waitresses  in  restaurants. 
Other  special  occupations  included, 
illustrating  more  concrete  and  indi- 
vidual problems  than  employment  in 
the  larger  industrial  groups,  were  the 
employment  of  women  as  core  makers, 
as  street  car  conductors  and  ticket 


agents,  as  elevator  operators,  as  phar- 
macists, and  in  printing  estabhsh- 
ments. 

For  these  groups  the  effect  of  any 
laws  regulating  the  employment  of 
women  was  studied,  as  it  was  not 
possible  to  foresee  which  laws  might 
have  been  most  significant  in  each 
case,  but  the  focus  was  on  laws  regu- 
lating hours — daily,  weekly,  and  at 
night. 

For  the  laws  which  prohibit  women's 
employment  in  certain  occupations, 
a  different  kind  of  study  was  planned. 
The  occupations  selected  for  exami- 
nation in  connection  with  these  laws 
were  buffing  and  grinding,  electric 
and  acetylene  welding,  gas  and  elec- 
tric meter  reading,  and  taxi  driving, 
all  of  which  occupations  are  pro- 
hibited for  women  in  one  or  more 
States.  The  method  followed  was 
to  search  out  women  who  were 
employed  in  these  occupations  where 
no  prohibition  existed,  and  through 
personal  interviews  with  them  and 
with  their  employers,  get  a  record  of 
conditions  of  employment  and  per- 
sonal experience  which  would  give  a 
basis  of  judgment  as  to  whether  or 
not  prohibition  of  such  employment 
would  constitute  a  real  handicap. 

This  was  a  fairly  extensive  program, 
and  as  the  Women's  Bureau  had 
only  a  limited  staff  and  appropriation 
it  was  essential  that  there  should  be  as 
little  waste  motion  as  possible  in  carry- 
ing out  the  study.  Because  the  find- 
ings of  the  investigation  were  eagerly 
awaited  by  many  groups  of  persons 
interested  in  legislative  pohcies,  it  was 
important  to  gather  the  material  and 
publish  the  results  with  as  little  delay 
as  possible,  but  for  the  same  reason 


WiNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


245 


it  was  even  more  important  that  the 
method  followed  should  not  be  open 
to  challenge.  To  estabUsh  a  satis- 
factory method  in  as  short  a  time  as 
possible  it  was  decided  to  conduct  an 
experimental  study  for  one  month  in 
two  States,  to  compile  and  analyze 
the  results,  and  from  this  experience 
to  make  such  changes  as  seemed 
advisable  for  the  rest  of  the  survey. 
This  experimental  study  proved  to 
be  of  the  greatest  value.  It  demon- 
strated within  a  few  weeks  that  the 
focus  of  the  investigation  as  originally 
outlined  was  not  practical,  and  the 
changes  made  after  the  first  month, 
in  the  type  of  information  required, 
and  in  schedule  forms  saved  months 
of  what  would  have  been  useless  effort 
if  the  original  plans  had  been  adhered 
to.  Both  in  drawing  up  the  original 
plan  of  investigation  and  in  readjust- 
ing it,  the  Women's  Bureau  was 
fortunate  enough  to  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  expert  advice  through  the 
services  of  its  Technical  Advisory 
Committee,  consisting  of  Miss  Mary 
Van  Kleeck,  Mrs.  Frank  B.  Gilbreth, 
and  Dr.  Charles  P.  Neill,  all  of  whom 
have  given  much  time  and  attention 
to  the  difficult  research  problems 
connected  with  this  study. 

The  details  of  the  change  of  plan  of 
investigation  illustrate  rather  clearly 
some  of  the  difficulties  which  face 
the  investigator  in  industry  when 
deaUng  with  something  less  tangible 
than  wages,  hours,  output,  costs,  or 
other  of  the  more  commonly  studied 
aspects  of  the  manufacturing  process. 
The  original  plan  of  the  investigation 
set  up  as  the  unit  for  measurement  of 
differences  in  status  and  opportunity 
for  women  in  industry,  the  numerical 


and  proportionate  distribution  of  men 
and  women  in  the  various  occupations 
in  individual  estabUshments.  As  a 
unit  of  measurement  of  the  changes 
which  had  taken  place  in  women's 
eniployment  over  a  period  of  years 
the  same  numerical  and  proportionate 
distribution  of  men  and  women  by 
occupation  was  required  for  certain 
significant  years.  In  addition  to  this 
information  a  supplementary  inter- 
view with  the  employer  in  each 
establishment  was  to  furnish  informa- 
tion as  to  prevaihng  conditions  of 
employment  and  methods  of  manu- 
facture, and  any  changes  which  had 
taken  place  at  different  periods  that 
might  explain  emplojmient  fluctua- 
tions or  current  conditions  apparent  in 
the  occupational  figures. 

A  month's  effort  on  the  part  of 
four  investigators  in  two  States  showed 
that  it  was  not  possible  to  get  ade- 
quate detailed  occupational  figures 
either  for  current  conditions  or  for 
past  years.  During  this  experimental 
study  records  were  made  for  56  plants. 
In  only  36  of  these  plants  could  any 
data  be  secured  as  to  the  occupations 
of  the  men  and  women  and  in  aU  but 
one  or  two  of  the  36  the  employment 
figures  indicating  occupations  gave 
merely  the  departments  in  which  the 
men  or  women  employees  were  work- 
ing. In  a  few  large  plants  these 
departments  were  so  subdivided  that 
it  was  possible  to  get  a  general  idea  of 
the  occupations  carried  on.  In  other 
plants,  however,  there  were  fisted  only 
a  few  departments,  each  of  them 
including  a  great  number  of  occupa- 
tions. It  would  have  been  possible, 
through  the  cooperation  of  the  mana- 
gers, who  usually  were  most  helpful  in 


246 


WiNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


making  information  available,  to  go 
through  manj'  plants  and  list  the 
actual  job  of  each  man  or  woman, 
or  to  get  such  information  from  the 
foreman  of  each  section.  Such  a 
method  would,  however,  have  been 
most  time-consuming  and  could  not 
be  adopted  for  the  type  of  survey 
which  was  being  undertaken. 

When  it  came  to  getting  occupa- 
tional records  for  previous  years,  it 
was  found  that  this  was  practically 
out  of  the  question.  In  only  19  of 
the  56  plants  was  it  possible  to  get 
back  records  which  seemed  significant 
in  any  way.  In  one  or  two  cases 
records  of  emplojTnent  for  former 
years,  by  department,  were  available, 
but  these  cases  were  so  rare  as  to  be 
of  almost  no  value.  In  not  one  plant 
did  the  records  of  employment  in 
previous  years  give  any  adequate  idea 
of  fluctuations  in  actual  occupational 
opportunity  for  women.  In  a  few 
plants  it  was  possible  to  discover  in  a 
general  way  what  changes  in  the  pro- 
portion of  women  employed  had  taken 
place  during  certain  years,  but  it  was 
not  possible  from  any  employment 
records  secured  to  show^  the  details  of 
these  changes  nor  to  verify  accurately 
the  statements  made  by  managers  and 
superintendents. 

For  these  reasons  it  was  decided  to 
abandon  the  attempt  to  secure  statis- 
tical data  showing  changes  in  the 
status  of  women's  occupational  oppor- 
tu^nity,  and  instead  to  use  statements 
of  managers  and  superintendents  as 
to  the  current  situation  and  the 
past  developments  of  women's  em- 
plojTTient  and  the  factors  which  had 
influenced  it.  If  an  unusual  em- 
ployment   situation    was    found    to 


exist  in  any  establishment,  or  if  some 
significant  change  in  employment  had 
taken  place  at  some  past  time,  attempt 
was  to  be  made  to  get  occupational 
data  as  illustration.  With  this  excep- 
tion, however,  the  focus  of  attention 
was  changed,  after  the  preliminary  in- 
vestigation, from  statistical  data  sup- 
plemented by  the  interview  to  the 
interview  supplemented  by  statistical 
data. 

SCHEDULE    USED    IX    COLLECTING    THE 
INFORALA.TION 

In  line  with  this  change  in  focus 
came  a  corresponding  change  in  type 
of  schedule  used  to  collect  the  infor- 
mation. The  original  schedule  was  a 
mimeographed  set  of  forms,  asking 
specific  questions  and  gi\'ing  a  place 
for  entering  the  answers  "on  the  dotted 
line."  This  type  of  schedule  had  been 
used  for  many  Women's  Bureau 
surveys.  The  prehminary  investiga- 
tion disclosed,  however,  that  a  more 
flexible  form  was  necessary,  as  no 
schedule  could  be  de\dsed  foreseeing 
all  the  possible  significant  features 
which  might  need  to  be  recorded, 
and  no  two  plants  necessarily  would 
offer  the  same  type  of  information  as 
it  affected  any  one  aspect  of  women's 
employment.  New  schedules,  there- 
fore, were  evolved  to  meet  the  need 
for  greater  flexibiUty  and  easier  em- 
phasis of  different  data,  while  at  the 
same  time  presenting  an  outline 
through  which  the  data  secured  would 
be  sufficiently  objective  to  be  permis- 
sible of  compilation  and  mass  treat- 
ment. The  mimeographed  "form" 
was  abandoned,  and  instead  a  de- 
tailed outline  of  the  subjects  about 
which  information  was  to  be  gathered 


WiNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


247 


was  given  to  each  agent,  together  with 
careful  instructions  as  to  the  scope  of 
the  information  desired  under  each 
heading. 

In  reporting  the  interview  each 
heading  was  to  be  treated  on  separate 
pages,  as  fully  as  the  circumstances 
required,  the  amount  and  type  of 
information  secured  varying  greatly, 
of  course,  with  each  estabhshment, 
but  the  general  frame  work  being 
the  same  not  only  for  the  estabhsh- 
ments  within  an  industry  but  for  the 
various  industries.  This  form  of 
schedule  was  used  for  the  detailed 
comparative  study  of  women's  employ- 
ment in  typical  industries.  For  other 
sections  of  the  investigation,  which 
were  more  limited  in  scope,  a  less 
elastic  schedule  was  used.  For  ex- 
ample, when  it  seemed  essential  to  get 
information  as  to  the  effect  of  the 
prohibition  of  night  work  for  women 
in  industry,  a  short  schedule  was 
drawn  up  on  which  to  record  figures 
of  employment  of  men  and  women 
by  day  and  of  men  at  night,  occupa- 
tions carried  on  at  night  by  men 
which  were  performed  by  women  in 
the  day  time,  positions  which  would 
be  open  to  women  if  it  were  not  for 
the  night-work  prohibition,  and  the 
general  attitude  of  the  employer 
toward  night  work  for  women.  A 
similar  schedule  was  used  for  plants 
which  employed  men  longer  than  the 
legal  hours  for  women. 

Another  section  of  the  investiga- 
tion, fully  as  important  as  the  detailed 
examination  of  the  industrial  employ- 
ment of  women,  was  that  devoted  to 
securing  through  interviews  with  work- 
ing women  themselves  accounts  of 
how  legislation  actually  had  affected 
them.     With  the  exception  of  a  group 


of  women  who  were  employed  in  occu- 
pations or  under  conditions  prohibited 
by  law  in  other  States,  no  women 
were  interviewed  who  had  not  been 
employed  when  some  legislation  had 
gone  into  effect.  In  this  section  of 
the  investigation  an  especially  deter- 
mined attempt  was  made  to  keep  the 
material  objective,  and  to  record  no 
general  opinions  as  to  approval  or 
disapproval  of  the  laws  in  question. 
This  pohcy  materially  hmited  the 
group  of  women  who  could  be  inter- 
viewed, as  in  many  States  the  only 
important  laws  had  been  passed  so 
long  ago  that  few  women  could  be 
located  whose  work  history  went  back 
so  far.  Nevertheless,  a  considerable 
number  of  women  were  found  who 
could  give  direct  testimony  of  the 
effects  on  their  opportunities  of  certain 
specific  labor  laws,  and  this  testimony 
has  thrown  much  light  on  certain 
aspects  of  legislation. 

The  foregoing  account  gives  only 
some  of  the  outstanding  illustrations 
of  method  in  the  conduct  of  this  inves- 
tigation. For  a  subject  as  many  sided 
as  the  one  under  discussion  no  one 
method  can  be  used  consistently  for 
all  aspects  of  the  problem.  Instead, 
different  methods  must  be  devised  to 
meet  different  conditions.  On  the 
whole,  the  methods  used  have  been 
opportunistic.  Most  of  the  material 
collected  was  secured  through  personal 
interviews  but  when  time  and  distance 
and  appropriations  have  prevented 
any  other  method,  questionnaires  have 
been  resorted  to;  when  figures  could 
not  be  secured,  statements  were  re- 
corded. Whichever  method  was  used, 
however,  objective  information  was 
required  so  that  it  would  be  possible 
to   draw   deductions   from   the   data 


248 


AViNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


obtained.  To  make  the  requiiements 
flexible  enoii<?h  to  get  the  essential 
facts,  and  yet  not  so  flexible  that 
the  facts  could  not  be  handled  was 
the  chief  problem.  The  next  most 
serious  problem  was  that  of  getting  un- 
biased interviews  with  workers,  when 
manj^  of  these  interviews  had  to  be 
held  in  the  factory,  sometimes  in  the 
presence  of  the  employer  or  the  em- 
ploj^er's  representative.  Often  it  was 
necessary  to  hold  the  interviews  in 
this  way  because  of  the  diflSculty  in 
locating  workers  at  their  homes,  after 
working  hours,  though  enough  inter- 
views were  made  in  the  homes  to  serve 
as  a  check  against  those  made  under 
less  favorable  conditions  in  the  place 
of  employment.  Most  of  these  inter- 
views, however,  were  held  for  the 
purpose  of  discovering  what  had  hap- 
pened six  or  eight  or  ten  years  before, 
and  did  not  apply,  except  in  cases  of 
employment  in  occupations  prohibited 
in  other  States,  to  the  occupation  in 
which  the  woman  interviewed  was  then 
engaged.  It  was  felt,  therefore,  that 
the  data  secured  could  be  considered 
rehable,  although  occasionally  the 
interviewer  may  not  have  had  the 
full  confidence  of  the  woman  being 
interviewed. 

The  investigation  was  started  in 
March,  1926,  and  the  field  work  was 
completed  early  in  the  following 
December.  During  those  nine  months 
schedules  were  secured  for  more  than 
1500  estabhshments  employing  women, 
and  personal  interviews  were  held 
with  more  than  1000  working  women 
who  had  experienced  a  change  in  the 
law  or  who  were  employed  under 
conditions  or  in  occupations  prohibited 
for  women  in  some  other  States. 


As  the  information  gathered  was 
completed  for  an  industry,  compilation 
of  the  material  was  started  immediately 
so  that  certain  checks  could  be  made 
on  method  and  ambiguous  returns 
could  be  corrected.  In  compiling 
this  material,  which  was  not  so  ex- 
tensive as  to  be  really  statistical  yet 
which  was  too  voluminous  to  be 
handled  individually,  the  chief  effort 
has  been  to  guard  against  the  influence 
of  individual  sympathies  and  view- 
points. It  can  not  be  denied  that 
in  any  study  conducted  through  the 
means  of  personal  interviews  there  is 
a  strong  possibility  of  the  individual 
opinion  of  the  person  interviewed  or  of 
the  interviewer  influencing  what  may 
eventually  come  to  be  considered  as 
facts.  This  was  recognized  from  the 
beginning  as  a  possible  danger  and  was 
guarded  against,  as  has  been  pointed 
out,  by  making  outlines  and  schedules 
as  objective  as  possible.  In  the 
compilation  of  the  material  a  further 
check  was  given  by  having  the  data 
coded  and  compiled  by  trained  statis- 
tical clerks,  who  handled  each  schedule 
on  its  merits  as  a  presentation  of 
certain  facts.  These  compilations 
then  were  turned  back  to  the  agents 
who  had  made  the  investigation,  for 
detailed  and  critical  examination. 
Where  there  was  a  disagreement 
between  the  agent  and  the  statisticians 
all  material  was  again  thoroughly 
examined  and  additional  information 
was  sought  so  that  a  decision  satis- 
factory to  both  might  be  reached. 

PRELIMINARY  RESULTS 

The  material  thus  compiled  has  not 
yet  been  completely  analyzed,  but  so 
far  as  can  be  judged  at  present  the 


WiNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


249 


method  followed  both  for  investiga- 
tion and  for  compilation  seems  to 
have  produced  adequate  data. 

In  planning  the  investigation  a  care- 
fully considered  choice  was  made  be- 
tween a  detailed  statistical  study  of 
conditions  in  a  few  establishments  in 
a  Hmited  area  and  collection  of  infor- 
mation through  individual  interviews 
covering  large  groups  in  many  States 
and  occupations.  It  was  felt  that 
the  latter  method  would  yield  the 
most  significant  results  because,  pro- 
vided the  findings  were  acceptable 
from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  the 
field  from  which  they  were  drawn 
would  be  broad  enough  and  sufficiently 
varied  to  be  conclusive. 

The  data  secured  have  evolved  into 
an  outhne  of  the  various  factors  which 
influence  the  position  of  women  in 
different  occupations.  The  vahdity 
of  the  method  is  illustrated  somewhat 
by  the  findings  for  different  types  of 
work. 

In  the  manufacturing  industries 
and  in  stores  it  was  found  that  hour 
legislation  had  not  affected  the  posi- 
tion of  women,  nor  the  opportunities 
open  to  them.  No  differences  in 
policy  of  employment  for  women 
could  be  correlated  with  the  existence 
of  such  legislation. 

Differences  in  policy  of  employment 
were  found,  but  these  differences 
clearly  were  based  on  requirements  of 
the  industry  or  occupation  or  on 
prejudice  or  precedent.  The  factors 
which  influenced  women's  opportunity 
varied  in  the  different  industries. 
Sometimes  it  was  a  change  of  style; 
sometimes  it  was  a  change  in  the 
manufacturing  process,  such  as  the 
installation  of  simpler  or  labor  saving 


machinery;  sometimes  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  labor  supply;  often  it  was  a 
question  of  the  employer's  personal 
prejudice  which  had  opened  or  closed 
positions  to  women;  but  in  so  few 
cases  as  to  be  almost  negUgible  was 
any  curtailment  of  opportunity  due 
to  legal  restriction  of  women's  hours 
of  work. 

The  prohibition  of  women's  employ- 
ment at  night  was  found  to  result  inv 
an  occasional  limitation  of  women's 
opportunity  for  work  in  industry.  On 
the  whole,  however,  it  was  found  that 
a  much  more  important  factor  in 
limiting  women's  employment  at  night 
was  the  general  attitude  of  employers 
regarding  night  work  for  women.  The 
majority  of  employers  disapproved  so 
strongly  of  having  women  in  their 
plants  at  night  that  they  would  not 
have  had  them  even  if  the  law  per- 
mitted. 

In  special  occupations  some  of  which 
are  semi-professional  in  type  and  none 
of  which  can  be  classed  as  regular  in- 
dustrial pursuits,  it  was  found  that  the 
indiscriminate  application  of  hour  and 
night-work  legislation  which  had  been 
devised  for  industries,  had  acted  as 
a  handicap  to  some  women,  such  as 
street-car  conductors,  printers  and 
proof  readers,  and  pharmacists.  This 
legislation  had  by  no  means  been  the 
chief  factor  in  determining  the  oppor- 
tunity for  women  in  these  occupations, 
but  the  material  secured  indicated  that 
it  had  played  a  more  conspicuous  part 
than  in  the  general  run  of  manufac- 
turing industries. 

Judging  by  the  conditions  of  work 
and  the  experiences  reported  by  the 
many  women  found  employed  in 
certain   occupations    which   are   pro- 


250 


WiNSLOw:  Effect  of  Labor  Laws  for  Women 


hibited  for  them  in  one  or  two  States, 
the  conclusion  was  inevitable  that 
such  prohibitory  legislation  serves  as 
a  needless  restriction  on  women's 
employment  in  a  number  of  occupa- 
tions. 

On  the  whole,  although  the  details 
of  the  investigation  may  not  be  sus- 
ceptible of  the  careful  scientific  analy- 
sis and  the  fine  distinctions  which 
would  have  been  made  possible  by 
a  more  limited  statistical  study,  the 


conclusive  nature  of  the  evidence 
collected  for  the  different  types  of 
occupation  indicate  the  practicabiUty 
of  the  use  of  the  interview  as  a  method 
of  research  in  a  study  whose  object 
is  to  measure,  or  at  least  to  isolate, 
factors  which,  in  the  final  analysis, 
depend  largely  on  personal  prejudices 
and  the  experiences  of  individual 
employers  or  workers. 

{Manuscript  received  June  15,  1927.) 


Men  Who  Have  Accidents 

Individual  Differences  Among  Motormen  and  Bus 

Operators 

By  C.  S.  Slocombe  and  W.  V.  Bingham,  Personnel  Research  Federation 

Men  differ  greatly  in  susceptihiliiy  to  industrial  accidents.  With 
clear  recognition  of  what  this  truth  implies,  in  its  demand  for  in- 
dividual study  and  varied  treatment  of  accident  offenders,  a  new 
era  in  industrial  safety  is  dawning. 

During  the  earlier  stages  of  safety  engineering,  ingenuity  was 
directed  mainly  toward  improvement  of  safety  devices,  guards, 
flooring,  signals  and  all  the  physical  aids  to  accident  reduction. 
Later,  attention  was  given  also  to  the  human  factor.  Educational 
appeals  and  Safety  First  campaigns  were  addressed  to  all  employees 
as  a  group.  These  indispensable  measures  must  be  continued,  and 
supplemented  by  new  methods  adapted  to  the  unique  differences 
between  individual  workers. 

The  following  investigation  was  made  at  the  suggestion  of  Edward 
Dana,  Esq.,  General  Manager  of  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway 
Company,  an  organization  which  has  long  been  a  pioneer  in  the 
movement  for  industrial  safety. 

This  study  reports  some  differences  in  proneness  to  accidents  dis- 
closed in  the  course  of  an  inquiry  made  on  behalf  of  a  metropolitan 
street  railway  system.  Differences  in  abihty  to  operate  a  street-car 
or  motor-bus  with  safety  were  found  to  correspond  with  differences  not 
only  in  training  and  in  length  of  experience,  but  also  in  physical  con- 
dition as  indicated  by  blood  pressure,  and  in  sldll  in  saving  electric 
power  as  measured  by  automatic  coasting  recorders  attached  to  the 
street-cars. 

A  METROPOLITAN        railway  effective  safety  propaganda  with  its 

company  operating  street  cars  employees  and  public,  and  has  had 

and    buses    has    an    accident  engineers   design  its   equipment   and 

situation  which  it  regards  as  unsatis-  road-bed  with  a  view  to  safety.     These 

factory,  even  though  the  proportion  of  active  measures  have  not  done  more 

accidents    per    million    of    passenger  than  keep  the  accident  cost  from  ris- 

miles  compares  favorably  with  that  of  ing.     That  is  to  say,  the  increase  of 

other   large    street    railway   systems,  passengers  carried  and  the  increased 

For   many   years   it   has    carried   on  collision  hazard  owing  to  the  growing 

251 


252 


Slocombe  and  Bingham:  Accidents 


number  of  motor  vehicles  on  the  streets 
would  normally  cause  an  increase  in 
the  total  number  of  collisions  per 
annum;  but  the  measures  so  far  used 
have,  apart  from  special  conditions 
such  as  exceedingly  heavy  snow  falls, 
served  to  keep  the  total  accident  cost 
on  a  more  or  less  uniform  level.  The 
company,  not  satisfied  with  this, 
asked  that  an  investigation  of  their 
situation  be  made  b}'  the  staff  of  the 
Personnel  Research  Federation,  with 
a  view  to  finding  possible  means  for 
reducing  the  number  and  seriousness 
of  accidents.  The  following  studies 
were  carried  out  as  part  of  an  inquiry 
preliminary  to  the  preparation  of  a 
program  of  accident  reduction, 

SUSCEPTIBILITY  TO  ACCIDENTS  AN 
INDIVIDUAL  MATTER 

A  canvass  of  the  company's  records 
showed  that  accidents  do  not  distrib- 
ute themselves  impartially  among 
the  men  who  operate  the  cars.  Half 
the  accidents  happen  to  less  than  a 
third  of  the  operators.  In  one  sample 
of  two  hundred  men  of  ample  ex- 
perience and  maturity  in  the  service, 
half  the  accidents  happened  to  only 
one-fifth  of  the  motormen. 

This  difference  in  proneness  to  acci- 
dents holds  even  when  the  question  of 
blame  is  eliminated.  If  consideration 
is  given  to  only  those  accidents  for 
which  the  operator  is  not  to  blame,  it 
still  is  the  case  that  a  large  proportion 
of  them  happen  to  a  relatively  small 
fraction  of  the  men.  Obviously  some 
motormen  are  much  more  able  than 
others  to  avoid  accidents  for  which 
blame  would  fall  on  the  pedestrian  or 
truck  driver.  Our  question  then  takes 
this  form:  What  are  the  observable 


differences  between  the  safer  operators 
and  those  M'ho  from  their  records  may 
be  classed  as  prone  to  be  victims  of 
accidents? 

RELATION  OF  ACCIDENTS  TO  OPERATING 
ABILITY 

The  first  step  was  to  determine 
whether  there  is  any  relationship  be- 
tween the  operator's  driving  ability 
and  the  number  of  accidents  he  has. 
The  old  difficulty  of  finding  a  suitable 
criterion  or  index  of  driving  ability 
cropped  up.  After  due  consideration 
it  was  decided  to  take  as  the  index  of  a 
man's  ability  his  percentage  of  coast- 
ing. As  one  means  of  economizing 
electric  power,  the  men  are  trained  and 
urged  to  coast — that  is,  to  let  the  car 
run  without  application  of  either  power 
or  brakes.  Moreover,  a  perfectly  ob- 
jective measure  of  their  percentage 
of  coasting  time  was  at  hand.  Each 
car  is  equipped  with  a  clock  which 
automatically  records  for  each  trip 
the  total  number  of  minutes  during 
which  the  car  is  running  without  using 
either  power  or  brakes.  This  coast- 
ing time  divided  by  total  trip  time 
gives  a  coasting  percentage.  Like 
other  such  criteria,  coasting  time  is 
influenced  by  almost  innumerable 
factors  other  than  the  man's  driving 
ability;  but  it  is  an  objective  criterion, 
and  is  certainly  in  some  measure  re- 
lated to  the  operator's  skill  and  his 
ability  and  willingness  to  keep  his 
mind  strictly  on  the  job. 

We  discuss  accidents  as  such,  fully 
realizing  that  they  are  of  all  sorts  and 
that  the  drivers  are  to  blame  for  some 
and  not  to  blame  for  others.  We  at- 
tempted a  division  into  chargeable  and 
non-chargeable    accidents,    but    after 


Slocombe  and  Bingham:  Accidents 


253 


making  it,  we  still  found  a  correlation 
of  0.30  between  them.  It  is  often 
difficult  to  determine  whether  a  man  is 
really  to  blame  for  an  accident  or  not. 
A  statistical  relationship  found  be- 
tween number  of  accidents  and  any 
criterion  will  be  attenuated  by  the 
accidents  for  which  the  man  is  not  at  all 
to  blame;  that  is  to  say  the  inclusion 
of  these  accidents  merely  lowers  the 
correlation  coefficient. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  accidents 
about  which  there  can  be  no  doubt  as 
to  the  culpability  of  the  man,  coasting 
percentages  or  any  other  criterion  at 
our  disposal  did  not  discriminate  be- 
tween good  and  bad  men.     It  is  only 

TABLE  1 

Showing  that  men  loho  operate  economically 

tend  to  operate  safely  and  also  to  give 

more  satisfactory  service 


Men  with  low  coasting  record 
Men  with  high  coasting  record 


ACCI- 
DENTS 


3&t 
313 


DELIN- 
QUEN- 
CIES 


73 
46 


in  the  non-chargeable  accidents  that 
we  found  relationship. 

The  100  best  coasters  and  the  100 
poorest  coasters  in  the  company  were 
selected  and  the  number  of  accidents 
which  they  had  in  nine  months  com- 
pared. The  number  of  delinquencies 
of  various  sorts  recorded  on  their  serv- 
ice records  were  also  tabulated. 

Table  1  shows  clearly  that  the  low 
coasting  men  are  more  liable  to  have 
accidents  than  are  the  high  coasting 
men.  It  also  shows  that  the  service 
rendered  by  the  men  to  the  public  and 
the  company  is  also  related  to  number 


of    accidents    and    to    coasting    per- 
centage. 

Two  explanations  are  possible.  The 
men  who  are  less  economical  of  power 
make  these  coasting  percentages  be- 
cause they  are  less  skilled  in  the  driv- 
ing of  their  cars,  and  the  number  of 
accidents  which  they  have  is  also  a 
result  of  this  comparative  inefficiency. 
Or,  low  coasting  record  men  have 
higher  accident  records  because  they 
are  more  often  careless  and  negligent 
in  their  driving.  "We  shall  shortly  see 
reason  to  question  the  usefulness  of 
the  concept  of  carelessness. 

RELATION  OF  ACCIDENTS  TO  GENERAL 
SERVICE  RECORD 

We  looked  for  indices  of  careless- 
ness and  negligence,  and  for  this  pur- 

TABLE  2 

Comparison  of  records  of  men  who  refiised  on 

occasions  to  take  set-back,  with  those  of 

men  who  did  not  refuse 


ta 

te 

s 

a 

0 

g 

b 

is 

K 

^ 

e 
a 

(0 

H 

Z 

a 

o 

■< 

^ 

57 

14 

67 

76 

14 

22 

None 

11 

10 

32 

4 

4 

pose  compared  the  records  of  accidents 
with  the  general  service  records  of  a 
small  number  of  men.  The  delin- 
quencies were  classified  as  in  table  2. 
We  divided  the  men  into  those  who  at 
one  time  or  another  refused  to  take 
setbacks  and  those  who  did  not  at  any 
time  so  refuse. 

(A  man  may  be  on  a  given  route, 
making  a  round  trip  each  half  hour. 
If  he  is  late,  a  spare  man  takes  out  his 


254 


Slocombe  and  Bingham:  Accidents 


second  car,  called  the  set-back  car,  on 
time,  meets  him  somewhere  on  the 
road,  exchanges  cars,  and  brings  the 
late  car  back  to  the  barn,  while  the 
regular  man  goes  on  with  his  second 
trip.  But  the  regular  man  occasion- 
ally refuses  to  take  the  set-back 
car  for  his  second  trip  and  instead  goes 
into  the  barn  and  waits  for  the  next 
trip  while  the  spare  man  does  his 
work.) 


discipline  cards  were  next  the  subject 
of  study.     These  were  classified  as: 

a.  Misses  and  refusals  to  take  set-back. 

b.  Driving  indicating  possible   reckless- 

ness :  too  fast,  failing  to  make  safety 
stops,  running  ahead  of  time,  etc. 

c.  Treatment  of   bus,    in   use   of   gears, 

clutch,  etc. 

d.  Causing  inconvenience  to  passengers, 

by  jerking  the  bus,  not  pulling  in  to 
curb,  not  displaying  proper  destina- 
tion signs,  etc. 


T.'^BLE  3 
Showing  relation  of  delinquencies  to  accidents 


Misses  and  set  backs 

Not  safe  driving 

Gear-grinding,  etc 

Passenger  inconvenience 

Failing  to  reset  ticket  register. . . 
Incomplete  or  inaccurate  records 
Overs  and  shorts , 

Average 

Average  without  (g) 


LOW  ACCIDENT  MEN 


Average 
number  of 

delin- 
quencies 


3.9 
2.3 
2.4 
2.2 
1.8 
1.8 
17 


25.8 


9.7 


Percentage 

of  men 

making 

them 


70 
90 
59 
89 
55 
22 
95 


69 


65 


HIGH  ACCIDENT  MEN 


Average 
number  of 
delin- 
quencies 


4.3 
3.0 
2.6 
3.4 
2.5 
3.0 
23 


38.3 


16.8 


Percentage 

of  men 

making 

them 


95 
95 

86 

100 

100 

64 

95 


91 


89 


Table  2  shows  clearly  that  the  set- 
back men  were  worse  in  respect  to 
breaches  of  operating  rules,  missing 
their  morning  assignments,  and  num- 
ber of  collisions  and  other  accidents. 
This  table  seems  to  show  that  men 
with  a  wrong  attitude  toward  their 
work  and  the  company  are  men  who 
tend  to  have  accidents. 

SERVICE  RECORDS  IN  RELATION  TO 
NUMBER  OF  COLLISIONS 

The  various  delinquencies  of  the 
bus  operators   as   recorded  on   their 


e.  Failing  to  reset  ticket  register,  etc. 

f.  Failing  to  send  in  proper  records. 

g.  Overs   and   shorts.     (Inaccuracies   in 

fares  turned  in.) 

Table  3  shows  the  average  number  of 
each  of  these  delinquencies  among  low 
and  high  accident  men,  and  the  per- 
centage of  these  men  making  them. 

According  to  table  3,  high  accident 
men  are  worse  than  low  accident  men 
in  their  general  service  records.  !More 
of  them  tend  to  offend  and  to  offend 
more  often. 

The  correlation  between  number  of 


Slocoaibe  and  Bingham:  Accidents 


255 


delinquencies  and  number  of  collisions 
is  0.51.  Considering  the  attenuation 
due  to  the  innumerable  factors  not 
taken  into  account,  we  regard  this  as 
showing  a  striking  relationship. 

PHYSICAL  CONDITION  IN  RELATION  TO 
ACCIDENTS 

All  men  over  fifty  years  of  age  are 
given  an  annual  medical  examination. 
Among  the  items  measured  and  re- 
corded are  blood  pressure,  systolic  and 
diastolic.  Men  whose  blood  pressure 
is  strikingly  abnormal  are  induced  to 
seek  special  medical  treatment  or  are 
given  other  work,  or  if  necessary  are 
pensioned.  This  is  not  uncommon  in 
railway  practice,  since  the  management 
cannot  afford  the  risk  of  leaving  a 
street-car  or  a  locomotive  in  charge  of 
an  operator  who  might  be  subject  to  a 
stroke,  or  to  loss  of  consciousness  in 
case  of  a  sudden  emergency.  It  has 
not  been  generally  recognized,  how- 
ever, that  excessive  blood  pressure, 
even  when  it  is  not  so  high  as  to  indi- 
cate danger  of  sudden  collapse,  may 
nevertheless  be  a  symptom  of  incip- 
ient nephritis  or  of  some  systemic 
condition  which  affects  general  health 
and  temperament  to  an  extent  which 
may  seriously  interfere  with  safe 
driving. 

The  data  as  to  blood  pressure  of 
59  men  over  fifty  years  of  age  were 
submitted  to  a  medical  authority  who 
classified  them  as  normal  or  abnormal. 
Then  their  accident  records  for  the 
preceding  year  were  examined.  (It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  more 
than  80  per  cent  of  recorded  accidents 
are  of  a  minor  sort.) 

Table  4  shows  the  association  be- 
tween number  of  accidents  and  blood 


pressure.  It  appears  that  men  over 
fifty  years  of  age  with  abnormal  blood 
pressure  had  on  the  average  somewhat 
more  than  twice  as  many  accidents  as 
did  men  of  comparable  age  and  ex- 
perience with  normal  blood  pressure. 

We  have  not  related  blood  pressure 
to  number  of  delinquencies,  but  as  the 

TABLE  4 
Relation    of   blood    pressure    and    accidents 


MEN  OVER  50 

o 

a 
2  ?, 

0  i 
z, 

ii 

J  < 
<  ,. 

<A 
» 

o 

It 

< 

With      abnormal      blood 
pressure 

21 
38 

136 
110 

fij* 

With        normal        blood 
pressure 

8 

*  Approximate. 

TABLE  5 
Showing  that  on  the  average  the  longer  a  man 
has  been  operating  a  car  the  fewer 
collisions  he  has 


TEARS  OF  DRIVING 

NUMBER  OF 

AVERAGE 

EXPERIENCE 

MEN 

COLLISIONS 

Less  than  1 

7 

13.6 

1-5 

19 

6.2 

6-10 

16 

5.9 

11-15 

29 

5.4 

16-20 

26 

4.8 

21-25 

22 

4.8 

26-30 

23 

2.9 

Over  30 

14 

2.9 

data  showing  the  relationship  between 
delinquencies  and  accidents  were  taken 
from  the  records  of  the  same  group  of 
men  as  those  used  to  determine  the 
relationship  between  blood  pressure 
and  accidents,  there  would  seem  to  be 
grounds  for  assuming  that  there  is  a 
relationship   between   blood   pressure 


256 


Slocombe  and  Bingham:  Accidents 


and  delinquencies.  An  interrelation- 
ship between  these  three  factors,  ab- 
normality in  blood  pressure,  number 

86% 


quencies  and  the  number  of  accidents. 
An  excessive  number  of  accidents  may 
possibly  also  react  on  blood  pressure. 


80. 


70. 


►0  60. 


40 


40 


30 


20. 


10. 


5T% 


27% 


77o 


I 


less  than  1        1-5  5-10  10-20  20-30  30+ 

Years   of  experience 

Fig.  1.  Rklation  of  Accidents  to  Experience 

Showing  for  each  class  of  operators  the  percentage  who  have  more  than  the  median 
number  of  accidents. 


of  delinquencies,  and  accidents,  would 
suggest  that  in  some  measure  the 
physiological  condition  probably  ac- 
counts for  both  the  number  of  delin- 


The  relationship  between  these  three 
factors  is  a  matter  requiring  further 
investigation.  We  record  our  findings 
here,  however,  because  they  so  strongly 


Slocombe  and  Bingham:  Accidents 


257 


suggest  how  misleading  it  would  be  to 
infer  from  a  relationship  between  de- 
linquencies and  accidents  that  careless- 
ness is  the  fundamental,  cause  of  the 
accidents.  From  a  practical  view- 
point, if  an  abnormal  condition  of  the 
circulation  is  affecting  a  man's  behav- 
ior, there  is  not  much  use  in  suspending 
him  or  reprimanding  him  for  care- 
lessness. 

LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  IN  RELATION  TO 
ACCIDENTS 

The  studies  of  delinquencies  and 
blood  pressure  were  made  from  the 
records  of  older  men  long  in  the  service 
of  the  company.  We  next  considered 
the  records  of  the  men  as  a  whole  to 
find  the  relationship  between  length  of 
service  and  number  of  accidents.  Car 
operators  were  divided  into  eight 
classes:  those  with  less  than  one 
year's  driving  experience,  those  with 
one  to  five  years',  six  to  ten  years', 
eleven  to  fifteen  years',  etc.  We 
expected  to  divide  the  period  of  one  to 
five  years'  into  the  separate  years,  but 
the  small  number  of  cases  made  this 
impossible.  Table  5  shows  the  aver- 
age number  of  collisions  per  man  in 
the  various  classes. 

There  is  a  definite  inverse  relation- 
ship between  length  of  service  and 
number  of  accidents.  It  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  competency  comes  with 


experience.  However,  two  additional 
points  may  be  noted: 

First,  the  selective  process  of  time.  Men 
who  are  unadjusted  or  who  are  not 
happy  in  the  job  leave  during  the  course 
of  years.  A  man  who  is  having  many 
accidents  is  not  apt  to  be  particularly 
happy. 

Second,  the  large  number  of  accidents 
and  the  large  proportion  of  men  having 
a  large  number  of  accidents  are  in  the 
first  group,  that  is,  those  with  less  than 
one  year's  experience.  This  may  indi- 
cate some  inadequacy  in  the  training 
program. 

The  relationship  between  length  of 
service  and  number  of  collisions  is 
probably  most  plainly  told  by  figure  1. 
It  shows  the  percentage  of  men  in  each 
class  of  service  who  are  high  accident 
men. 

CONCLUSION 

We  have  found  in  these  studies  that 
the  following  classes  of  men  may  be 
regarded  as  more  than  ordinarily 
prone  to  accident: 

1.  Those  who  do  not  operate  eco- 
nomically, as  shown  by  low  coasting 
records. 

2.  Those  whose  record  of  delin- 
quencies is  long. 

3.  Older  men  with  abnormal  blood 
pressure. 

4.  Younger  men  with  very  limited 
experience. 


The  Machinist  Apprentice 

II.  The  Training  Program 

By  Wm.  H.  "Woodruff,  Ingersoll-Rand  Company 

Essential  features  of  a  modern  training  program  are  described 
in  Mr.  Woodruff's  second  article  dealing  with  the  machinist 
apprentice. 


THE  best  way  in  which  to  revive 
apprenticeship  in  the  metal 
trades  and  to  adapt  it  to  modern 
industrial  conditions  is  no  easy  prob- 
lem. There  is  a  solution;  but  it  illus- 
trates the  adage  that  there  is  nothing 
new  under  the  sun.  Far-sighted 
manufacturers  of  machinery  have 
turned  back  to  the  old-time  natural 
apprenticeship  of  colonial  times  for  the 
answer  to  their  training  problems. 

The  beneficent  boss-owner  of  the 
colonial  period  has  been  replaced  by  an 
awakened  shop  executive,  either 
general  foreman  or  shop  superintend- 
ent. The  vital  power  of  personal 
interest  on  the  part  of  management, 
which  apprenticeship  since  the  In- 
dustrial Revolution  has  badly  lacked, 
has  now  been  consciously  supplied. 
The  modern  shop  executive  realizes  as 
surely  as  the  old  small  shop  proprietor 
ever  did  that  his  own  success  in  the 
long  run  depends  more  on  the  way  in 
which  he  develops  an  adequate  future 
supply  of  properly  skilled  mechanics 
for  his  shop  than  upon  almost  any 
other  one  thing. 

The  question  immediately  arises, 
however,  as  to  how  the  shop  executive 
can  find  time  to  play  the  personal  role 


thus  assigned  to  hmi.  His  burdens 
are  many  and  varied  in  comparison 
with  his  prototype,  the  boss-owner. 
The  shop  superintendent  may  have  500 
to  1000  men  under  his  charge  as 
against  a  few  as  10  or  20  in  the  old 
days.  Efficiency  methods  and  mass 
production  have  added  tremendously 
to  both  the  weight  and  variety  of  his 
responsibilities.  Between  followng 
up  production  and  generally  running 
the  system,  the  shop  executive  has 
about  all  that  he  can  shoulder. 

The  answer  is  that  while  the  shop 
executive  maintains  an  active  personal 
responsibility  for  the  training  of  his 
apprentices  he  is  relieved  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  details  of  supervision. 
There  is  an  apprentice  supervisor  for 
the  entire  plant  whose  duty  it  is  to  act 
in  an  advisorj'-  or  staff  capacity  on 
apprenticeship  problems,  keeping  him- 
self informed  at  all  times  as  to  the 
newer  developments  in  training 
methods  inside  and  outside  of  the 
plant.  If  a  shop  superintendent 
wishes  to  add  something  to  his  pro- 
gram of  apprentice  training,  he  calls 
in  the  apprentice  supervisor,  gets  his 
ideas,  and  has  the  supervisor  work  out 
the  details.    Sometimes  the    appren- 


25S 


Woodruff:  The  Machinist  Apprentice 


259 


tice  supervisor  will  himself  initiate  a 
new  development  for  the  benefit  of  all 
departments. 

This  real  personal  interest  and  re- 
sponsibiKty  on  the  part  of  the  shop 
management  is  the  most  essential  fea- 
ture of  an  up-to-date  apprenticeship 
program.  If  we  were  to  stop  there, 
however,  our  plan  would  be  almost 
exactly  identical  with  the  old  natural 
apprenticeship.  In  order  to  assure  a 
broad  and  thorough  training  under 
modern  conditions,  it  usually  is 
necessary  to  add  scheduled  shop 
assignments,  and  also  to  consider  the 
apprentice's  immediate  supervisor  or 
foreman  as  an  instructor. 

One  plan  which  has  been  found 
effective  is  to  consider  the  four-year 
apprenticeship  not  as  four  years,  but 
as  forty-eight  months;  and  to  divide 
this  into  sixteen  units  or  three-month 
periods,  each  devoted  to  a  specific 
machine  tool  or  other  definite  assign- 
ment. Notified  by  the  tickler  in  the 
apprentice  supervisor's  office,  the  boy 
is  moved  promptly  from  one  assign- 
ment to  another  every  three  months. 
Such  a  schedule  insures  complete  and 
varied  experience,  and  does  much  to 
hold  the  boy 's  interest,  when  it  other- 
wise might  lag.  It  is  also  an  assurance 
to  parents  that  the  boy's  training  is 
not  being  forgotten  in  the  rush  of  pro- 
duction processes. 

Of  course,  the  mere  practice  of 
changing  the  boy's  assignment  every 
three  months  will  not  in  itself  give  him 
the  necessary  training.  Even  more 
important  is  the  instructional  function 
of  the  immediate  supervisor  or  foreman. 
The  foreman 's  stimulus  and  inspiration 
for  assuming  an  instruction  attitude 
comes  from  two  sources:  (1)  His  own 


immediate  superior,  the  shop  superin- 
tendent or  general  foreman,  whose 
personal  interest  and  responsibiHty  are 
referred  to  above,  and  (2)  the  appren- 
tice supervisor,  who  is  in  constant 
cooperation  and  ties  in  the  foreman's 
efforts  with  the  apprenticeship  pro- 
gram of  the  entire  plant.  In  practice, 
under  proper  conditions,  we  find  each 
foreman  taking  a  personal  and  fatherly 
interest  in  his  boys,  with  a  determined 
resolution  to  turn  out  machine  shop 
men  who  will  compare  favorably  with 
those  produced  by  the  plant  as  a 
whole. 

Another  necessary  item  is  technical 
or  class-room  instruction,  which  will 
naturally  include  mathematics  through 
trigonometry,  followed  perhaps  by  a 
course  in  practical  mechanics.  There 
is  also  a  thorough  course  in  mechanical 
drawing^  followed  by  machine  design. 
The  one  big  thought  to  keep  in  mind  is 
to  make  the  subject  matter  as  practical 
as  possible  and  to  teach  pure  theory 
as  Httle  as  possible.  Try  to  state  all 
problems  in  terms  of  actual  cases  which 
arise  or  might  arise  in  the  shop. 
Where  your  shop  has  special  problems 
pecuhar  to  it,  endeavor  to  work  these 
into  the  course.  Since  technical  in- 
struction for  apprentices  was  installed 
at  our  shops  five  years  ago,  we  have 
found  the  Shop  Engineering  courses 
developed  at  Pennsylvania  State  Col- 
lege, and  now  also  available  through 
Rutgers  University,  to  be  very  satis- 
factory as  a  basis  for  text  and  problem 
material. 

Having  sketched  the  four  main 
factors,  namely,  (1)  the  shop  execu- 
tive, (2)  the  shop  schedule,  (3)  the 
foreman,  and  (4)  technical  instruction, 
we  can  now  look  at  other  possible 


260 


Woodruff:  The  Machinist  Apprentice 


features  which  may  add  to  the  general 
value  of  apprenticeship.  The  follow- 
ing provide  a  broader  training  and  also 
make  it  more  attractive  both  to  the 
apprentice  and  his  parents. 

1.  The  Company  Magazine  or  House 
Organ.  If  you  have  such  a  publication 
available  for  even  a  lunited  circulation 
see  that  your  apprentices  get  personal 
copies  of  each  issue. 

2.  Library  and  Trade  Magazines.  A 
small  but  comprehensive  library  of 
books  on  machine  shop  practice  and 
related  subjects,  as  well  as  such  shop 
magazines  as  "The  American  Machin- 
ist" and  "Foundry,"  can  be  pro\'ided 
at  small  cost. 

3.  Technical  Talks.  Once  every 
two  or  three  months  have  one  of  your 
technical  experts  (the  metallurgist, 
tool  designer,  etc.)  talk  to  the  assem- 
bled apprentices,  on  "The  Nature  and 
Use  of  Metals,"  or  "Practical  Prob- 
lems in  Tool  Design,"  etc. 

4.  Shop  Visits.  Two  or  three  times 
a  year  have  all  the  apprentices  visit 
some  one  department,  in  small  groups 
of  five  or  six,  each  group  in  charge  of 
a  foreman  of  the  department  being 
visited. 

5.  Athletic  Teams.  Select  a  good 
coach  from  among  your  own  employees. 
Organize  apprentices  in  such  sports  as 
baseball  and  basketball.  Play  the 
local  high  schools  and  preparatory 
schools.  A  good  school  spirit  helps  in 
apprentice  training. 

6.  Machine  Tool  Ldterature.  All  the 
machine  tool  manufacturers  have  large 
amounts  of  literature,  catalogs,  bulle- 
tins, and  manuals  which  they  are  glad 
to  give  away  to  people  who  will  put 
them  to  proper  use.  When  an  appren- 
tice goes  on  a  new  machine  give  him  a 


booklet  or  a  manual  describing  that 
machine,  written  by  the  firm  which 
made  it. 

7.  Loan  of  Tools.  A  well  selected 
set  of  standard  measuring  tools  and 
instruments,  with  a  suitable  tool  box, 
would  cost  the  apprentice  SI 00. 00  or 
more  in  a  retail  hardware  store.  By 
taking  the  discount  the  same  set  costs 
the  Company  considerably  less. 
Tools  may  be  loaned  to  the  apprentice 
in  lots  of  3  or  4  as  he  goes  through  his 
training  period.  They  should  become 
his  property  upon  successful  comple- 
tion of  apprenticeship. 

8.  The  Merit  Wage.  Don't  keep  all 
of  your  apprentices  at  one  dead  level, 
the  satisfactory  boy  at  the  same  hourly 
wage  rate  as  the  boy  you  are  about  to 
fire.  Provide  an  additional  two  to 
four  cents  more  an  hour  on  your  rate 
schedule  for  the  Grade  A  apprentice 
who  is  taking  full  advantage  of  his 
opportunities  and  is  really  making 
good  in  both  his  shop  and  class  work. 
The  boy  thus  begins  to  learn  the  lesson 
of  real  life,  that  financial  returns  for 
any  work  are  seldom  entirely  stand- 
ardized. The  exceptional  man  makes 
exceptional  money. 

It  is  easy  to  make  the  criticism  that 
if  we  do  all  these  things  we  are  com- 
mitting the  crime  of  coddling.  Some 
say,  and  rightly  so,  that  too  much  is 
done  for  young  people  now-a-days. 
They  have  no  opportunity  to  use  their 
own  initiative  and  help  themselves. 
In  the  old  days  which  a  good  many  of 
us  remember,  there  were  plenty  of 
chores  to  do,  such  as  chopping  firewood 
and  carrying  in  the  coal.  Now-a-days 
we  light  the  gas  and  turn  on  the  elec- 
tric light  to  accomphsh  the  same 
purposes. 


Woodruff:  The  Machinist  Apprentice 


261 


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THE  PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,   VOL.   VI,   NO.  4 


262 


Woodruff:  The  Machinist  Apprentice 


It  is  unquestionably  true  that  with- 
out real  effort  there  is  no  growth. 
This  rule  apphes  to  the  mental  and 
moral  as  well  as  to  all  the  other  phases 
of  our  personal  development.  Ad- 
mitting that  the  danger  of  coddling 
the  apprentice  is  real,  the  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  giving  him  these 
additional  privileges  are  nevertheless 
great.  The  question  is  how  to  avoid 
the  one  and  at  the  same  time  attain 
the  other. 

The  answer  is,  emphaticaltyj  that  it 
can  be  done  by  maintaining  all  extra 
activities  (beyond  shop  work  and 
technical  studies)  as  rewards  for  the 
able  and  the  strong.  The  only  appren- 
tice who  should  be  allowed  the  extra 
privileges  is  the  Grade  A  apprentice. 
He  should  be  required  to  attain  and 
maintain  a  high  standard  (say  85  per 
cent)  in  both  shop  work  and  class  work. 
This  requirement  may  seem  unduly 
high,  but  we  have  found  that  it  is 
entirely  reachable — that  any  boy  who 
can  secure  admission  to  the  Course  can 
make  the  grade  if  he  so  desires.  All 
Grade  A  apprentices  should  enjoy 
these  additional  advantages  referred 
to  above:  (1)  Company  and  Trade 
Publications,  (2)  Library  and  Techni- 
cal Magazines,  (3)  Technical  Talks, 
(4)  Shop  Visits,  (5)  Athletic  Teams, 
(6)  Machine  Tool  Literature,  (7) 
Loan  of  Tools  (finally  given),  and  (8) 
The  Merit  Wage.  From  75  to  90  per 
cent  of  the  apprentice  body  should  be 
enjoying  full  privileges  at  all  times  as  a 
result  of  Grade  A  standing,  if  the  plan 
is  properly  administered. 

There  are  two  fundamental  rules  to 
follow  in  the  awarding  of  these  extras; 


(1)  The  privilege  should  be  granted 
without  question  when  earned,  and  (2) 
should  just  as  summarily  be  withdrawn 
from  the  unsatisfactory  apprentice. 

As  you  go  along  take  pains  both  to  be 
fair  and  seem  fair  at  all  times. 
Authorities  on  Boy  Scout  Work  and 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  activities  all  make  the 
point  that  for  an  older  man  to  assert  a 
proper  influence  on  a  boy's  ideas  and 
conduct  that  man  must  be  absolutely 
square  from  the  boy's  point  of  view. 
There  is  only  one  safe  rule  and  that  is 
to  "avoid  the  appearance  of  e\'il." 
Otherwise  you  will  lose  many  good 
boys  and  those  whom  you  keep  will 
have  difficulty  in  being  loyal  if  they 
feel  that  you  have  been  unfair. 

For  a  bird's-eye  view  of  a  modern 
machine  shop  apprenticeship  the 
reader  is  referred  to  table  1,  which 
shows  graphically  some  of  the  forces 
which  mould  and  develop  the  boy 
during  the  training  period,  and  which 
also  gives  some  indication  as  to  his 
future  possibilities  after  graduation. 
The  table  is  not  based  on  actualities 
except  as  to  the  Training  Program 
which  only  a  few  Apprentices  have 
thus  far  completed.  It  is  rather  a 
reasonable  estimate  of  the  probable 
results  of  such  training.  It  disregards 
the  question  as  to  whether  a  Graduate 
Apprentice  remains  with  the  Company 
or  not.  Probably  10  to  25  per  cent 
will  find  their  future  elsewhere.  The 
lower  part  of  the  table  indicates  the 
number  who  will  probably  rise — not 
necessarily  the  exact  line  of  promo- 
tion. 

Manuscript  received  September  12,  1927. 


Summer  Work  During  the  College  Course 

By  Alice  I.  Perry  Wood,  Wellesley  College 

Dr.   Wood  has  summarized  in  brief  the  results  and  conditions 
of  summer  employment  of  one  class  at  Wellesley  College. 

WHEN     college    students    are  The    summers    during   which   they 

making     summer     plans    for  were  employed  run  as  follows: 
work,  it  is  of  interest  to  re\'iew 

f   .1               1,           J           T,-            r  One  summer  workers: 

some  of  the  results  and  conditions  oi  -c,-    ,                                               „ 

r  irst  summer 11 

their  employment  in  the  years  during  Second  summer 33 

the   residence   of   a   typical    class   in  Third  summer 23 

college.  Two  summer  workers: 

The  senior  class  at  Wellesley  College  ^^^^^^  ^^<i  ^^''^  summers 19 

1      1    ,      j^T,                 ,1      1        I-  1  First  and  second  summers 15 

was  asked  to  fill  out  a  blank  which  -o-    4.      j  ^.i,-  j                                 o 

First  and  third  summers 3 

gave  the  following  facts  regarding  their 

summer    positions    during   the    three  It  appears  that  after  the  sophomore 

years  of  their  residence  at  Wellesley,  and  junior  years  in  both   cases  the 

that   is,   the   summers   following   the  student  is  more  Ukely  to  undertake 

freshman,  sophomore,  and  junior  year,  summer    work,    rather    than    imme- 

respectively :  (1)   type    of    work;    (2)  diately  after  the  freshman  year,  the 

how  secured;  (3)  length  of  time  em-  summer  after  the  junior  j^ear  being 

ployed;  (4)  paid  or  volunteer  work;  most  frequently  used  in  this  way. 

(5)  amount  earned;  (6)  value  as  voca-  The  varv'ing  lengths  of  summer  jobs 

tional  experience.  appear  in  table  2,  gi\'ing,  in  approxi- 

The  returns  out  of  a  class  of  320  mation  only,  the  number  of  weeks 
were  139,  showing  that  at  least  43  per  represented  by  these  jobs.  In  some 
cent  of  the  class  had  held  summer  cases  "piece  work"  or  irregular  em- 
positions,  ployment  made  it  impossible  to  get 

In  examining  the  answers  to  these  an  exact  estimate  of  the  time. 

questions  it  was  found  that  some  were  In  regard  to  the  tjT)es  of  work  done, 

not  definite  enough  to  be  strictly  tabu-  the  repUes  show  a  wide  variety,  as 

lated,  since  they  afforded  only  general  seen  from  the  follo'U'ing  list,  given  in 

information,  or  the  work  was  of  an  terms  of  the  jobs,  rather  than  of  the 

independent  or  indi\adual  nature,  not  students  employed. 

measured  by  time  or  season.     Table  1,  ^         , 

,                        .                                          r     .-I  Counselors  at  camp 34 

however,    gives    a    summary    oi    the  -p.         ,-         i    •    i    r        „,•+,• 

'     °                                  •'  Domestic  work,  including  waitmg  on 

approximate  length  of  time  and  the  table  and  care  of  children 24 

amounts  earned  by  the  139  students.  Clerical  work 21 

263 


264 


Wood:  Summer  Work  During  College  Course 


TABLE  I 


Numbers  of  summers  emploj^ed 

Paid  work 

Volunteer  work 

Combination  of  paid  and  volunteer  work 

Gross  amount  earned 

*Average  amount  earned 

fLargest  amount  earned  by  any  one  student. 


THREE 
SUMMERS 


34 

24 

4 

6 

3,833.25 

S227.75 

$835 .00 


TWO  SUMMERS 


37 

24 

4 

9 

3,058.00 

$183.51 

$575 .00 


ONE  SUMMER 


68 

52 

13 

3 

2,804.00 

$50.98 

$230.00 


*  Average  earned  per  summer,  $64.32. 

t  Largest  amount  earned  by  one  student  in  a  single  summer, 


Tutoring  and  teaching 18 

Social  work 10 

Library  work 10 

Vacation  Bible  schools 10 

Positions  in  banks 9 

Telephone  operators 6 

Art  work 6 

Newspaper  work 5 

Laboratory  work 5 

TABLE  2 


< 

a 
a 

a 

0 

o 
> 

More  then  10  wpek.s . 

33 
15 
12 
54 

2 
16 

8 
20 
14 

7 

3 
11 

2 

10  weeks. . . 

1 

9  weeks 

1 

8  weeks 

12 

7  weeks 

0 

6  weeks 

3 

5  weeks 

0 

4  weeks 

14 

3  weeks 

5 

2  weeks 

8 

Less  than  two  weeks 

0 

Not  stated 

or  undetermined..  . . 

3 

Average  length  of  job,  6J  weeks. 
Average  earned  per  job,  $64.32. 

Other  replies  gave  a  scattering  of 
occupations,  such  as  typewriting  and 
stenography,  dri\dng  an  automobile, 
working  in  a  department  store,  work 
in  a  museum,  life-guard  and  swimming 
teacher,  curator  of  an  art  shop,  factory 


work,  operating  calculating  machines, 
bee-keeping,  etc. 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  answers 
are  those  in  regard  to  the  vocational 
value  of  the  work.  The  following  hst 
gives  a  general  outline  of  the  answers 
received. 

Gave  a  glimpse  of  the  world  of 
business 21 

Gave  experience  in  teaching 21 

Learned  to  work  with  people 21 

Learned  different  side  of  life  or  differ- 
ent kinds  of  people 13 

Learned     something     new:   library 
cataloging,  hospital  work,  typing, 
switchboard,  etc 12 

Made  more  independent  or  gave  a 
sense  of  responsibility 10 

Gave  actual  experience  in  something 
in  which  they  were  already  inter- 
ested      9 

Some  of  the  answers  showed  marked 
inteUigence  of  choice^  in  that  the  sum- 
mer work  was  used  as  an  apprentice- 
ship for  future  work.  An  architect's 
office  afforded  experience  for  the  future 
architect,  the  hospital  for  one  who 
intended  to  study  medicine,  proof 
reading  for  a  would-be  advertiser,  and 
social  work  for  a  would-be  social 
worker.  Some  experimented  with 
library  work.  One  who  was  interested 
in  ranching  undertook  the  work  of  a 


Wood:  Summer  Work  During  College  Course 


265 


guide;  and  in  several  cases  those  in- 
terested in  department  store  work 
took  positions  of  selling.  Equally 
valuable  for  some  was  the  discovery 
that  they  did  not  Uke  certain  kinds 
of  work. 

It  is  this  latter  attitude  toward  work 
as  an  apprenticeship  that  should  be 
encouraged.  Out  of  this  group  of  139, 
only  a  small  number  mentioned  this 
aspect  of  the  work.  Perhaps  an  ex- 
planation of  this  fact  is  that  these 
positions  are  for  the  most  part  secured 
rather  casually,  usually  through  the 
family  or  friends,  or  by  one's  own 
appKcation  as  chance  offers.  Only  a 
small  proportion  were  secured  through 
the  college  bureau.  This  to  a  large 
extent  wiU  always  be  true  regarding 
such  temporary  positions,  but  it  is 
desirable  that  the  college  bureaus  be 
increasingly  the  source  of  positions,  so 
that  there  may  be  an  attempt  to  make 
the  summer  work  more  significant.  As 
the  tendency  to  seek  summer  posi- 
tions increases,  the  opportunities  wall 
undoubtedly  become  more  abundant 


and  varied,  and  thus   of  value   to  a 
larger  number. 

It  is  highly  desirable  that  the  college 
take  possession  of  some  at  least  of  the 
no-man's  region  of  the  summer  vaca- 
tion, and  make  it  of  use.  This  has 
been  done  in  individual  cases  by  sug- 
gesting reading  hsts  and  by  advising 
summer  schools,  but  it  is  only  recently 
that  the  college  has  taken  cognizance 
of  the  fact  that  the  summer  may  be 
used  to  fill  out  the  content  of  the 
hberal  arts  curriculum  with  vocational 
training  or  experience.  College  ap- 
pointment bureaus  have  been  working 
with  the  summer  positions  for  a 
number  of  years,  with  steady  increase 
of  calls.  Associations  hke  the  summer 
camps  have  organized  their  placement 
service;  social  organizations  have 
Junior  Week,  and  similar  opportuni- 
ties; laboratories  take  summer  workers, 
and  there  are  now  innumerable  oppor- 
tunities for  vocational  experience 
awaiting  organization,  and  eminently 
suitable  for  the  undergraduates. 
(Manuscript  received  May  23,  1927.) 


Psychological  Testing  in  a  Women's 

College 

By  Margaret  R.  Davidson  and  Andrew  H.  MacPhail,  Brown  University 

Testing  of  freshmen  was  introduced  in  the  Women's  College  in 
Brown  University  in  1923.  The  four  year  program  of  testing 
is  here  brought  under  careful  scrutiny  to  find  out  what  results  it 
has  produced  for  the  assistance  of  the  versonnel  office.  The  un- 
usually high  relationships  which  the  authors  have  uncovered  will 
encourage  all  research  workers  on  personnel  problems. 

This  report  covers  four  years'  use  of  the  Brown  University  Psycho- 
logical Examination  in  the  Women's  College  of  that  University. 

Correlations  between  test  scores  and  academic  work  centered  about 
0.50  to  0.55,  rather  high  compared  with  what  other  colleges  have  found. 

For  the  first  two  years  in  college,  students  in  the  lowest  tenth  in  test 
scores  received  seven  or  eight  times  as  many  failing  grades  as  students 
in  the  highest  tenth. 

Students  whose  test  scores  are  in  the  lowest  tenth  of  the  class  have 
about  an  even  chance  of  spending  more  than  one  year  in  college  and 
about  one  chance  in  three  of  remaining  to  begin  their  senior  year. 

Over  three-quarters  of  the  students  with  academic  averages  of  85  per 
cent  or  more  for  the  first  one  or  two  years  in  college  obtained  test  scores 
in  the  upper  half  of  their  class.  Over  three-quarters  of  the  students 
with  academic  averages  of  less  than  70  per  cent  for  the  first  one  or  two 
years  scored  in  the  lower  half  of  their  class. 

Two-fifths  of  the  students  refused  registration  because  of  poor  work 
during  or  at  the  end  of  the  freshman  year  come  from  those  scoring  in  the 
lowest  tenth,  and  nearly  half  from  the  lowest  fifth. 

Rank  in  the  preparatory  senior  class,  weighted  according  to  the  size 
of  the  school  and  its  test  scores,  and  then  combined  with  the  person 's 
test  score,  correlates  0.70  with  freshman  academic  grades. 

THE  psychological  examination  was  confined  to  men  students  at  the 
of  students  at  Brown  Uni-  University.  The  results  obtained 
versity  was  introduced  in  1918  were  of  sufficient  significance  to  make 
by  the  late  Dr.  Stephen  S.  Colvin  and,  it  desirable  to  introduce  a  similar  pro- 
sin  ce  that  time,  all  entering  students  gram  at  the  Women's  College  and, 
have  been  examined  annually  during  accordingly,  in  September  1923,  the 
the  week  preceding  the  opening  of  Brown  University  Psychological 
college.  Until  the  fall  of  1923  the  Examination  was  administered  to  the 
administration  of  psychological  tests  entering  class  of  women.     The  psy- 

266 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


267 


chological  testing  has  continued  annu- 
ally under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Mac- 
Phail as  one  of  the  activities  of  the 
Committee  on  Educational  Advice  and 
Direction  of  which  Professor  Kenneth 
O.  Mason,  Dean  of  Freshmen,  is 
Chairman.  The  results  are  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Personnel  Depart- 
ment of  the  Women's  College  where 
they  are  subjected  to  interpretation 
and  statistical  analysis  under  the  im- 
mediate direction  of  Miss  Davidson 
who  is  Director  of  that  department.^ 
For  a  number  of  years,  vocational 


arrangements  for  the  interviewing  of 
students  and  the  collecting  and  co- 
ordinating of  information  about  each 
student.  In  addition  to  providing  in- 
formational lectures  bearing  on  various 
vocations,  the  department  also  oper- 
ates as  an  appointment  bureau  to  aid 
students  in  securing  part-time  work 
while  they  are  in  college  as  well  as 
assisting  them  in  securing  positions 
after  graduation.  The  work  of  the 
personnel  department  is  conducted  in 
close  cooperation  with,  and  responsi- 
bility to,  the  Dean  of  the  Women's 


TABLE  1 
Correlations  between  the  Brown  University  psychological  test  score  and  academic  averages  for 

periods  indicated 


Class  of  1927 

Class  of  1928 

Class  of  1929 

Class  of  1930 

Classes  of  1927  and  1928* 

Classes  of  1927,  1928,  1929* 

Classes  of  1927,  1928,  1929,  1930 

*  Data  combined. 


Semes- 
ter I 


0.56 
0.55 
0.57 
0.47 

0.55 
0.53 


.\CADEMIC  .4.VE  RAGES 


Semes- 
ter II 


0.45 
0.47 
0.40 


Year  I 


0.58 
0.54 
0.54 
0.47 

0.53 
0.49 


Year 
II 


0.49 

0.42 
0.42 

0.45 
0.46 


Year 
l+U 


0.57 
0.52 
0.49 

0.54 
0.49 


Year 
III 


0.43 

0.46 


0.44 


Year 

I+II  + 

III 


0.47 
0.49 


0.47 


Year 
I+II-I- 
III+IV 


0.43 


guidance  work  was  conducted  by  Miss 
Florence  Jackson^  who  came  to  the 
college  two  or  three  times  each  year 
but,  in  September  1924,  Miss  David- 
son took  complete  charge  of  what  is 
now  a  definitely  and  well  organized 
Personnel  Department  which  makes 

^  Miss  Davidson  will  be  succeeded  in  the 
fall  of  1927  by  Miss  Eva  Mooar. 

^  Miss  Jackson  was,  for  a  number  of 
years.  Director  of  the  Appointment  Bureau 
at  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial 
Union  in  Boston  and  is  now  engaged  in  vo- 
cational guidance  work  at  a  number  of  col- 
leges throughout  the  countrj'. 


College.     There   is   also   an   advisory 
faculty  committee.^ 

CORRELATIONS  OF  TESTS  WITH  ACA- 
DEMIC   STANDING 

The  general  relationship  found  to 
exist  by  comparing  psychological 
scores  with  academic  performance 
compares  very  favorably   with  find- 

'  The  work  of  the  Personnel  Department 
of  the  Women's  College  is  described  in  more 
detail  on  pages  220-221  of  the  Journal  of 
Personnel  Research,  Vol.  V,  No.  5,  Septem- 
ber, 1926. 


268 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


ings  reported  by  many  institutions 
throughout  the  country.  The  coeffi- 
cients of  correlation  obtained  by  the 
Pearson  Product  Moment  method 
have  been  summarized  in  table  1. 
Coefficients  ranging  from  0.47  to  0.57 
were  found  for  four  consecutive  classes 
between  psychological  scores  and 
academic  averages  for  the  first  semes- 
ter. A  pile-up  of  similar  data  from 
three  and  four  classes  combined  yields 
coefficients  of  0.55  and  0.53  respectively. 


the  thirty-two  coefficients  in  table  1  is 
about  0.50  which  is  about  seven  points 
higher  than  the  central  tendency  of 
similar  coefficients  that  have  been  re- 
ported by  higher  institutions  over  a 
number  of  years.  About  two-thirds 
of  those  reported  fall  between  0.30  and 
0.50  with  a  central  tendency  of  0.40  to 
0.45.*^ 

The  relation  of  psychological  scores 
to  academic  achievement  can  be  shown 
in  another  way  by  comparing  the  per- 


TABLE  2 

Academic 

course  grades  related  to  certain  psychological  deciles 

PSYCHOLOGICAL 
DECILE 

ACADEMIC  COURSE  GRADES 

TOTAL 

A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

per  cent 

First 

38 

37 

23 

1.5 

0.5 

100 

First  3  }-ears  (Class  of 

Second 

16 

42 

33 

7 

2 

100 

1927) 

' 

Ninth 

6 

33 

38 

17 

6 

100 

- 

Tenth 

3 

16 

35 

31.5 

14.5 

100 

First 

28 

39 

24 

6.5 

2.5 

100 

First  2  years    (Classes 

of 

Second 

18 

40 

32 

8 

2 

100 

1927  and  1928) 

< 

Ninth 

4 

24 

46 

17 

9 

100 

> 

Tenth 

2 

16 

37 

30 

15 

100 

r 

First 

30 

41 

23 

4 

2 

100 

Freshman  year  (Classes 

of. 

Second 

16 

45 

30 

7 

2 

100 

1927,  1928,  1929) 

' 

Ninth 

3 

22 

47 

20 

8 

100 

. 

Tenth 

1 

12 

40 

31 

16 

100 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  this  is 
about  ten  points  higher  than  for  similar 
data  obtained  from  the  men  students.'* 
The  table  also  shows  a  coefficient  of 
0.53  obtained  from  three  classes  com- 
bined between  psychological  scores  and 
academic  average  for  the  entire  fresh- 
man year.    The  central  tendency  of 

*  See  pages  48-56,  School  and  Society, 
July  11,  1925,  "Some  Practical  Results  of 
Psychological  Testing  at  Brown  Univer- 
sity," W.  R.  Burwell  and  A.  H.  MacPhail. 


centages  of  A 's,  B  's,  C  's,  D  's,  and  E  's 
received  by  various  psychological 
groups  for  various  periods  of  time. 
This  method  of  demonstration  requires 
the  tabulation  of  each  separate  course 
grade  secured  by  every  student.  The 
following  tables  show  the  distribution 
in  per  cent  of  the  various  academic 
letter  grades  made  by  several  psycho- 

'  See  pages  27-30,  "Intelligence  of  Col- 
lege Students,"  A.  H.  MacPhail,  Warwick 
and  York,  1924. 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


269 


logical  groups  over  a  period  of  three 
years,  over  a  period  of  two  years,  and 
for  the  freshman  year. 

Table  2  shows,  for  example,  that  71 
per  cent  of  the  letter  grades  received 
in  the  freshman  year  by  students  in  the 
highest  psychological  decUe  have  been 
better  than  C  and  only  6  per  cent  of 
their  grades  have  been  below  C.  The 
corresponding  figures  for  students  in 
the  lowest  psychological  decile  are  13 
and  47  per  cent.  Whether  the  period 
of  time  covered  is  one,  two,  or  three 


?C-.0.        »0        20        30 
V    «      e      .      It      I 


HO 


bility  of  failure  to  remain  longer  than 
a  certain  length  of  time  in  college,  the 
basis  of  the  prediction  being  psycho- 
logical scores  made  at  the  time  of 
entrance.  Table  3  shows  the  results 
of  follow-up  studies  made  of  the  two 
highest  and  the  two  lowest  psychologi- 
cal deciles  for  several  classes  combined. 
The  data  from  three  classes  show  that 
only  3  per  cent  of  the  students  scoring 
in  the  highest  psychological  decile 
leave  college  before  the  sophomore 
year,  but  fourteen  times  as  many,  or 


50      6p 


70 


SO      <^-p      \  eo 


Hi^HcstL 


1 


2^ 


'3 


Iwowcst  I 


9>K|   V/////////////A 


^^r 


Key 


A's 


B's 


C'a 


D's 


E's 


Fig.  1.  Academic  Course  Grades  for  Three  Years  Related  to  Certain  Pstchological 

Deciles 

(Illustrates  graphically  the  first  part  of  table  2) 


years,  not  more  than  2.5  per  cent  of  the 
grades  received  by  students  in  the 
highest  psychological  decile  have  been 
failing  whereas  15  per  cent  of  the 
grades  made  by  people  in  the  lowest 
psychological  decile  have  been  failures. 
An  examination  of  the  careers  of 
students  scoring  in  the  highest  and 
lowest  psychological  groups  shows  that 
strikingly  different  degrees  of  mor- 
tality prevail.  A  study  of  the  related 
data  from  this  point  of  view  leads  to 
the  establishment  of  ratios  of  proba- 


43  per  cent  of  those  in  the  lowest  decile, 
leave.  The  corresponding  figures  for 
leaving  before  the  junior  year  are  9.5 
and  50  per  cent  respectively  and  before 
the  senior  year,  11  and  66  per  cent. 
Another  way  of  putting  it  is  that  a 
student  whose  psychological  score 
places  her  in  the  lowest  decile  of  her 
class  has  very  little  better  than  an 
even  chance  of  spending  more  than  one 
year  in  college  and  only  about  one 
chance  in  three  of  beginning  her  senior 
year.  An  interpretation  of  the  data  in 


270  Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


terms  of  quintiles  shows  that  roughly 
only  one  out  of  twenty  in  the  highest 
quintile  is  eliminated  before  the  sopho- 
more year  as  against  seven  out  of 
twenty  from  the  lowest. 


year,  for  two  classes  through  the 
sophomore  year,  and  for  three  classes 
through  the  freshman  year.  These 
data  are  summarized  in  table  4.  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  the  records  of  three 


TABLE  3 
Morlalily*  in  high  and  low  psychological  deciles  for  various  periods  of  lime 


TIME  OF  LEAVIKG 


Before  Sophomore  Year. 

Before  Junior  Year 

Before  Senior  Year 

*  In  per  cent  of  cases 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  DECILE 

1 

High 

2 

9 

10 
Low 

3 

6 

19 

43 

9.5 

15 

45 

50 

11 

22 

44 

66 

DATA  FROM  CLASSES  OF 


1927,  1928,  1929 
1927,  1928 
1927 


Soph.  Junior    ''   Senior 

Yr.  Yr.  Yr. 


Fig.  2.  Mortality  in  Lowest  Psycho- 
logical Decile 

Black  areas  show  percentage  leaving  col- 
lege before  the  time  indicated.  Approxi- 
mated on  data  from  the  classes  of  1927, 1928, 
and  1929,  inclusive.     See  table  3. 

TEST  SCORES  OF  GOOD  AND   POOR 
STUDENTS 

Interesting  results  have  been  secured 
by  comparing  the  psychological  test 
scores  made  by  students  who  have 
done  good  academic  work  with  the 
scores  made  by  those  who  have  done 
poor  work.  For  the  purposes  of  such 
a  comparison,  there  were  available  the 
data  for  one  class  through  the  junior 


classes  combined  show  that  no  student 
who  scored  in  the  lowest  psychological 
fifth  of  her  class  had  an  academic 
average  for  the  first  year  of  85  per  cent 
or  over  while  nearly  half  (48  per  cent) 
of  those  who  made  such  academic 
records  came  from  the  highest  psycho- 
logical fifth  of  their  respective  classes. 
On  the  other  hand,  nearly  half  (44  per 
cent)  of  those  who  did  poor  academic 
work,  i.e.  less  than  70  per  cent,  made 
psychological  scores  that  placed  them 
in  the  lowest  psychological  fifth  of 
their  classes.  Data  from  two  classes 
over  a  period  of  two  years  show  that  no 
student  who  scored  in  the  three  lowest 
psychological  deciles  made  an  aca- 
demic average  as  high  as  85  per  cent. 
Over  half  (56  per  cent)  of  those  who 
did  poor  academic  work  came  from  the 
three  lowest  psychological  deciles. 
Data  from  one  class  over  a  period  of 
three  years  show  that  no  student  who 
scored  in  the  three  lowest  deciles  had 
an  academic  average  for  the  three 
years  as  high  as  85  per  cent  and  no 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


271 


student  who  scored  in  the  three  highest 
deciles  failed  to  attain  an  average  of  at 
least  75  per  cent. 

The  significance  of  psychological 
scores  seems  easily  observable  when 
the  records  of  those  who  dropped  out 
of  college  on  account  of  poor  work  are 
examined.  The  data  from  the  tkree 
classes    that    have    completed    their 


from   Classes 
cases. 


1927,    1928,    1929;    29 


PSYCHO- 
LOGICAL 
DECILE 


Per  cent , 


10 

9 

8 

7 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

Low 

41 

7 

21 

10 

14 

3.5 

3.5 

1 

High 


Nearly  one-half  (48  per  cent)  of  those 
who  left  college  because  of  poor  work 


TABLE  4 
Comparative  distribution  [in  per  cent  of  cases)  of  the  psychological  ratings  (in  deciles)  of 
students  doing  (1)  good  (2)  poor  academic  work 


ACADEMIC  AVERAGE  FOR 
3  YEAJ8 

ACADEMIC  AVERAGE  FOB 
2  YEARS 

ACADEMIC  AVERAGE  FOR 
1  YEAR 

DECILE* 

85  per  cent 
or  over  for  3 
years  (14jt 

Less  than 

75  per  cent 

for  3  years 

(8) 

85  per  cent 

or  over  for  2 

years  (20) 

Less  than 

72  per  cent 

for  2  years 

(23) 

85  per  cent 

or  over  for  first 

year  (63) 

Less  than 

70  per  cent 

for  first  year 

(61) 

1  (high) 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10  (low) 

per  cent 

36 

7 

7 
22 

7 

7 
14 

per  cent 

12.5 
25 

12.5 

12.5 

12.5 

25 

per  cent 

35 
20 

5 
10 
15 

5 
10 

per  cent 

9 

13 

4 

9 

9 

21.5 
13 
21.5 

per  cent 

37 
11 
14 

6 
13 

8 

6 

5 

per  cent 

2 

2 
3 

7 
13 
11 
18 
13 
31 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

Data  from 
classes 

1927 

1927,  1928 

1927,  1928,  1929 

*  Deciles  determined  by  scores  made  by  each  class. 

All  psychological  deciles  referred  to  in  this  paper  are  of  this  sort. 

t  Figures  in  parentheses  indicate  number  of  cases. 


freshman  year  since  psychological  test- 
ing was  begun  at  the  Women 's  College 
are  summarized  below.  The  table 
shows  the  distribution  in  per  cent  of 
the  psychological  ratings  by  deciles  of 
students  leaving  college  on  account 
of  inferior  work  during  or  at  the  end  of 
the    freshman    year.     The    data    are 


were  students  who  fell  in  the  lowest 
psychological  fifth.  Evidently  for 
each  student  who  leaves  college  and 
who  scored  above  the  average  for  her 
class  psychologically,  there  are  about 
13  who  scored  below  the  average. 
These  same  data  are  illustrated  graphi- 
cally in  figure  3. 


272 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


PREDICTIVE    VALUE    OF    PREPARATORY 
SCHOOL   STANDING 

In  this  paper,  attention  has  thus  far 
been  confined  to  the  amount  of  rela- 
tionship that  has  been  found  to  exist 
between  psychological  test  scores  and 
quality  of  academic  work  done.  Of 
course,  many  other  factors  enter  into 
academic  success  but  up  to  date  the 
most  serious  and  carefully  investigated 
schemes  for  predicting  probable  suc- 
cess in  college  have  been  confined  for 
the   most   part   to    evaluating,   both 


i 


4th         3rd  2nd 

Qulntiles 


High- 
est 


Fig.  3.    Psychological   Status   of  Stu- 
dents Leaving  College  During  or  at 
End  of  the  Freshman  Year  Be- 
cause OF  Inferior  Work 

Forty-eight  per  cent  of  those  who  left 
scored  in  the  lowest  psychological  fifth. 

singly  and  in  various  combinations,  the 
predictive  values  of  preparatory  school 
averages,  performance  on  entrance  ex- 
aminations, and  scores  made  on  some 
kind  of  psychological  examination. 
Because  these  first  two  measures  are 
not  ordinarily  obtained  for  the  ma- 
jority of  students  at  Brown,  another 
index  which  is  known  for  practically 
all  entering  students  was  studied  to 
determine  to  what  extent  it  really  was 
of  value  as  a  predictive  measure  by 


itself  and  when  combined  with  a  psy- 
chological score.  Each  preparatory 
school  principal  is  asked  to  state, 
among  other  things,  the  position  occu- 
pied by  each  candidate  in  the  graduat- 
ing senior  class  and  the  number  of 
students  in  that  class.  For  example, 
the  record  of  a  candidate  for  admission 
may  show  that  he  stood  seventh  in 
a  graduating  senior  class  of  fifty 
members. 

About  a  year  ago,  the  members  of 
two  classes  were  arranged  in  the  order 
of  their  average  grades  during  the  first 
semester  and  it  was  provoking  of  in- 
terest to  note  that  in  the  lowest  aca- 
demic quarter  of  the  class  there  was  a 
clustering  of  students  who  came  from 
schools  graduating  less  than  one  hun- 
dred students  (all  of  whom  were  not 
necessarily  preparing  to  enter  college) 
and  that  in  almost  every  such  case  the 
student  had  a  low  psychological  score. 
In  the  class  of  1928,  all  of  the  students 
who  came  from  schools  graduating  less 
than  fifty  students  and  who  had  psy- 
chological scores  placing  them  in  the 
lowest  fifth  stood  in  the  lower  half  of 
their  college  class  academically,  while 
90  per  cent  of  those  from  the  same  type 
of  school  but  with  psychological  scores 
in  the  highest  fifth  stood  in  the  upper 
half  of  their  coUege  class.  Further 
examination  of  these  two  class  lists 
suggested  the  procedure  of  weighting 
a  student's  rank  in  her  senior  class 
according  to  the  size  of  the  school  and 
her  psychological  score. 

The  first  step  in  developing  a  weight- 
ing scheme  was  to  classify  the  schools 
from  which  students  enter  Brown  into 
different  types  according  to  size,  as 
follows : 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


273 


I.  Schools   sending   two-thirds   of   their 
graduating  class  to  college. 
II.  Schools  graduating  over  two  hundred 

students. 
III.  Schools  graduating  between  one  hun- 
dred and  two  hundred  students. 
IV.  Schools  graduating  between  fifty  and 

one  hundred  students. 
V.  Schools    graduating    less    than    fifty- 
students. 

Each  student 's  position  in  her  graduat- 
ing class  in  preparatory  school  was 
expressed  in  terms  of  a  scale  based  on 
the  normal  distribution  curve  calling 
the  mean  50  and  sigma  10.  The  high 
school  rankings  thus  obtained  were 
then  subjected  to  the  following  system 
of  weighting  which  was  derived 
through  preUminary  experimenting 
which  is  not  described  here. 

High  school  sigma  rankings  of  65  or  more 

1.  Remained   unchanged   in    cases    from 

high  schools  of  Classes  I,  II,  III. 

2.  Were  dropped  to  62.5  in  the  case  of 

Class  IV  schools  if  the  students 
scored  in  the  lowest  psychological 
half  of  the  entering  freshman  class. 

3.  The   ranks  of  students  coming  from 

Class  V  schools  were  dropped  to  62.5 
if  they  scored  below  the  second  psy- 
chological decile  and  were  dropped 
to  57.5  if  they  scored  below  the  fifth 
decile. 

High  school  sigma  rankings  below  65 

1.  In  the  case  of  Class  I  schools,  the  ranks 

below  50  were  raised  to  50  and  ranks 
'*"^     above  60  were  raised  five  points. 

2.  Ranks  from  schools  in  Class  II  and  III 

remained  unchanged. 

3.  In  schools  of  Class  IV  the  ranks  of 

students  scoring  below  the  fifth  psy- 
chological decile  were  dropped  five 
points. 

4.  In  the  case  of  schools  of  Class  V,  the 

ranks  of  students  who  scored  below 


the  second  decile  were  dropped  five 
points  and  the  ranks  of  students 
scoring  below  the  fifth  decile  were 
dropped  ten  points. 

The  application  of  the  scheme  of 
weighting  just  described  resulted,  of 
course,  in  changing  some  of  the  original 
high  school  ranks  because  of  the  size 
of  the  school  attended  and  because  of 
the  degree  of  success  on  the  psycholog- 
ical examination.  The  high  school 
ranks  for  the  members  of  two  freshman 
classes  were  computed  and  weighted 
according  to  this  scheme  and  cor- 
related with  the  academic  averages  for 
the  first  semester  in  college.  For  the 
Class  of  1929,  a  coefficient  of  correla- 
tion of  0.60  was  found  and  for  the 
Class  of  1928,  one  of  0.65.  This  at- 
tempt at  arriving  at  an  index  of  pre- 
diction thus  resulted  in  a  coefficient 
seven  or  eight  points  higher  than  the 
best  that  has  been  obtained  at  Brown 
using  the  psychological  score  alone. 
The  index  in  this  case  was  rank  in  the 
high  school  senior  class  after  it  has  been 
weighted  according  to  size  of  school 
and  the  psychological  score  made  by 
each  student. 

Obviously  the  plan  just  described 
was  somewhat  comphcated  and  a  sim- 
pler procedure  was  sought  which  would 
bring  in  both  high  school  rank  and 
psychological  standing.  The  first  at- 
tempt to  combine  these  two  for  pre- 
dictive purposes  did  not  take  the  size 
of  preparatory  school  into  considera- 
tion. Each  student 's  high  school  rank 
was  expressed  in  terms  of  the  sigma 
scale  as  before  and  the  psychological 
scores  were  also  expressed  in  terms  of 
a  like  sigma  scale,  the  mean  being  50 
and  sigma  10.    The  two  sigma  scores 


274 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


thus  obtained  for  each  student  were 
considered  as  expressed  in  comparable 
terms  and  were  simply  added  together. 
Such  combined  sigma  scores  were  ob- 
tained for  the  same  two  classes  (1929 
and  1928)  and  were  correlated  with 
academic  averages  for  the  first  semes- 
ter. A  coefficient  of  0.64  was  obtained 
from  the  data  for  the  Class  of  1929  and 
one  of  0.65  for  the  Class  of  1928. 
These  results  are  substantially  the 
same  as  those  obtained  by  the  other 
method  although  the  size  of  prepara- 
tory school  is  disregarded.  In  terms 
of  ease  of  manipulation,  the  second 
method  is  much  more  to  be  recom- 
mended. 

It  was  still  believed  that  something 
might  be  gained  by  bringing  in  the  size 
of  the  preparatory  school  and  so  a 
third  scheme  was  employed  which  was 
a  combination  of  the  two  methods 
already  described.  The  preparatory 
school  senior  rank,  expressed  in  terms 
of  sigma  and  weighted  according  to 
si2>e  of  school  and  psychological  score, 
was  found  for  each  student  as  de- 
scribed under  the  first  plan  and  added 
to  the  student's  psychological  score, 
also  expressed  in  terms  of  sigma,  as 
described  under  plan  tw^o.  For  the 
Class  of  1928,  this  index  has  a  correla- 
tion of  0.70  with  academic  averages  for 
the  first  semester.  This  is  the  highest 
coefficient  of  correlation  between  pre- 
dictive indices  and  college  grades  that 
has  been  obtained  at  Brown.  It  is 
only  a  gain  of  five  points  and  only  the 
data  for  one  class  has  so  far  been 
studied.  Whether  it  is  only  a  chance 
gain  or  not  remains  to  be  seen  after  the 
data  for  other  classes  have  been 
studied. 


SUMMARY 

1.  Four  years  of  psychological  test- 
ing and  careful  follow-up  studies  at 
the  Women's  College  in  Brown  Uni- 
versity have  resulted  in  data  that 
promise  to  add  much  to  the  effective- 
ness of  the  Registration  Committee  in 
its  selection  of  candidates  for  ad- 
mission.^ 

2.  The  general  relationship  between 
psychological  scores  and  academic 
work  is  indicated  by  coefficients 
of  correlation  centering  about  0.50. 
These  results  are  high  compared  with 
similar  data  from  the  men  and  from 
other  colleges. 

3.  For  the  first  two  years  in  college 
students  in  the  lowest  psychological 
tenth  receive  seven  or  eight  times  as 
many  faihng  grades  (E's)  as  do  stu- 
dents in  the  highest  tenth. 

4.  A  student  who  scores  in  the 
lowest  psychological  tenth  of  her  class 
has  about  an  even  chance  of  spending 
more  than  one  year  in  college  and 
about  one  chance  in  three  of  remaining 
to  begin  her  senior  year. 

5.  Over  three-quarters  of  the  stu- 
dents with  academic  averages  of  85 
per  cent  or  more  for  the  first  one  or  two 
years  in  college  have  scored  in  the 
higher  psychological  half  of  their 
class. 

6.  Over  three-quarters  of  the  stu- 
dents with  academic  averages  of  less 
than  70  per  cent  for  the  first  one  or  two 
years  have  scored  in  the  lower  psy- 
chological half  of  their  class. 

*  See  report  of  Dean  Margaret  S.  Morriss 
to  the  President;  Bulletin  of  Brown  Uni- 
versity, Vol.  XXIII,  N^o.  6,  November, 
1926;  page  47. 


Davidson  and  MacPhail:  Testing  in  College 


275 


7.  Two-fifths  of  the  students  refused 
registration  because  of  poor  work  dur- 
ing or  at  the  end  of  the  freshman  year 
come  from  the  lowest  psychological 
tenth  and  nearly  half  from  the  lowest 
fifth. 

8.  Position  (rank)  in  the  prepara- 


tory senior  class,  weighted  according 
to  size  of  school  and  psychological 
score  and  then  combined  with  the 
psychological  score,  yields  a  predictive 
index  that  correlates  0.70  with  fresh- 
man academic  grades. 

(Manuscript  received  June  20,  1927.) 


Vocational  Histories  of  Psychologists 

By  Harry  D.  Kitsox,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 

Dr.  Kitson  has  made  a  real  contribution  to  the  technique  of 
assembling  vocational  information.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that 
similar  compilations  are  in  progress  to  cover  eventually  all  the  lead- 
ing scientific  pursuits. 

Data  regarding  male  members  of  the  American  Psychological  Asso- 
ciation were  analyzed  for  truths  which  might  benefit  those  considering 
psychology  as  a  career. 

Ages  of  the  men  ranged  from  28  to  80,  with  the  median  at  46. 

Eighty-three  per  cent  were  in  academic  life ;  of  these  7  per  cent  were 
instructors,  9  per  cent  assistant  professors,  13  per  cent  associate  pro- 
fessors, 67  full  professors,  and  4  per  cent  presidents.  The  typical  pro- 
fessor among  these  psychologists  received  his  bachelor's  degree  at  24, 
and  his  professorship  at  37. 

Those  who  obtained  the  doctor's  degree  before  marriage  did  so  at  the 
median  age  of  28  and  married  at  the  median  age  of  33.  Those 
who  married  first  did  so  at  28  and  obtained  the  degree  at  33.  The  first 
group  became  professors  at  35  and  the  second  at  38. 

IN  A  previous  study^  the  writer  tion  regarding  the  status  of  workers  in 
suggested  that  the  psychologists  various  occupations, 
of  the  United  States  now  consti-  The  required  data  were  taken  from 
tute  a  group  of  sufficient  size  to  war-  the  files  of  the  Research  Information 
rant  their  treatment  according  to  the  Bureau  of  the  National  Research 
methods  pursued  in  modern  personnel  Council  at  Washington;  from  the  Year- 
work.  In  that  report  were  presented  books  of  the  American  Psychological 
the  results  of  an  investigation  of  the  Association,  and  from  ""VMio's  Who  in 
turnover  in  the  profession  during  the  America."  Like  the  previous  inves- 
preceding  six  years.  The  investiga-  tigation,  the  present  study  was  con- 
tion  has  been  continued  this  year  with  fined  to  the  active  members  of  the 
an  intensive  study  of  the  vocational  American  Psychological  Association, 
histories  of  psychologists,  a  technique  since  these  may  reasonably  be  con- 
which  promises  to  give  useful  informa-  sidered   to   be   the   most   thoroughly 

defined  psychologists.     Men  only  were 
^  Kitson,  Harry  D.,  "A  Preliminary  Per-        .    j-   j  .-.    ,•       omr       on  j. 

1  u^    1       r   r)     u  1     •  ^   ..    r>     i.        studied,  constitutmg  397  or  80  per  ccnt 
sonnel  fetudy  of    Psychologists,      Psycho-  '  i 

logical  Review,  Vol.  XXIII,  July,  1926,  pp.      of  the  active  members  of  the  Associa- 
315-23.  tion.     (The  women  were  investigated 

276 


Kitson:  Histories  of  Psychologists 


277 


by  Miss  Lycia  Martin  whose  results 
will  be  published  under  the  title 
"Women  in  Science.") 

AGE 

The  first  item  investigated  was  pres- 
ent (1926)  age.  Information  on  this 
point  was  available  concerning  322  or 
81  per  cent  of  the  397  active  men  in 
the  association.  The  per  cent  at  each 
age  is  shown  in  figure  1.     In  order  to 


psychologists.  The  ages  of  the  psy- 
chologists range  from  28  to  80  with 
the  median  at  46.  The  ages  of  the 
zoologists  are  approximately  the  same. 

ACADEMIC   RANK 

Of  the  397  active  men  in  the  Ameri- 
can Psychological  Association  329  or 
83  per  cent  are  college  teachers.  In 
making  a  personnel  study  of  them  we 
should  first  distribute  them  according 


49 
55 
50 
25 
20 
15 
10 
5 
0 


n 

■-- 

■  ■*  ' 

.  ^  ■ 

■-■ 

— 

•  ^  ■ 

—  • 

— 1 

—  ■ 

-r 

• — ^ 
— 1  1 — 1 

TZ        81 


^^r  50    56     42    48    54     60     66 

Psychologists — ;  Zoologists 

Fig.   1.  Showing  Distribution  of  Psychologists  and  Zoologists  Accoeding 

TO  Age 


have  figures  for  comparison,  ages  were 
investigated  among  the  active  mem- 
bers (men)  of  an  analogous  group,  the 
American  Society  of  Zoologists  list  as 
of  1926.2  Ages  were  available  for  296 
or  79  per  cent  of  the  376  active  men 
members  of  this  society.  The  per  cent 
of  these  zoologists  at  each  age  is  shown 
in  figure  1  together  with  the  ages  of  the 

^  Anatomical  Record,  January,  1926,  pp. 
61-86. 


TABLE  1 
Academic  rank  of  psychologists  and  zoologists 


PSYCHOLO- 
GISTS 

ZOOLOGISTS 

Num- 
ber 

Per 

cent 

Num- 
ber 

Per 

cent 

21 
31 

44 

222 

11 

7 
9 
13 
67 
4 

21 

49 

54 

196 

2 

7 

Assistant  Professor 

15 

17 

60 

1 

Total 

329 

100 

322 

100 

THE   PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,   VOL.    Vl,    NO.    4 


278 


Kitson:  Histories  of  Psychologists 


to  academic  rank.  Such  a  distribu- 
tion is  shown  in  table  1.  Similar 
figures  are  shown  regarding  the  college 
teachers  in  the  American  Society  of 
Zoologists.  Of  the  376  active  men  in 
this  society  322  or  86  per  cent  are 
college  teachers.  They  are  distributed 
as  to  rank  as  shown  in  table  1.  Con- 
ditions seem  to  be  quite  similar  in  the 
two  groups  with  two  exceptions — -the 


professor.  Accordingly  we  may  regard 
them  as  the  most  highly  representative 
psychologists.  One  of  our  chief  rea- 
sons for  making  such  a  personnel 
study  as  this  is  to  secure  a  factual 
basis  on  which  a  young  person  can 
choose  the  vocation  of  psychologist. 
College  students  frequently  ask, 
"What  are  the  opportunities  in  the 
field  of  psychology?"     "What  prepa- 


re 


c 
c 
c 
c 


c 


c 


r^ 


Professor 


Assoc iafe  P. 


Assisianf  P 


Ph.  D 


instructor 


Master 


Bachelor 


\^ 


) 


\^ 


If 


Zoof. 

55 


Chem.    Math. 

J4    JS 


Col. 

40 


Chi. 
44 


)  55  J5  30   54  38  59 

)  51  28  28  50  55  J^ 

)  50  29  29  50  28  29 

)  29   27  2&   26  JO  51 

)  26   26  24  26  25  26 

)  23  25  22  22  22  22 


Fig.  2.  Vocational  L.xdder  Showing  Rate  of  Promotion  of  Professors  in 
Various  Fields  of  Science  and  in  Columbia  and  Chicago 

The  figures  show  the  median  age  at  which  the  rank  was  reached 


psychologists  have  more  professors 
(among  the  zoologists  the  7  per  cent 
lacking  being  still  at  the  ranks  of  assist- 
ant professor  and  associate  professor) 
and  a  greater  number  of  presidents. 

VOCATIONAL    HISTORY    OF    PROFESSORS 

As  may  be  seen  in  table  1  two-thirds 
of  the  psychologists  who  are  in  aca- 
demic institutions   hold   the   rank  of 


ration  need  I  make  in  order  to  succeed 
in  the  field?"  "At  what  rate  may  I 
expect  to  progress  from  one  step  to 
another?"  The  best  answers  we  can 
find  for  such  questions  will  come  from 
a  study  of  the  experiences  of  psychol- 
ogists who  have  arrived.  We  can 
assemble  the  facts  concerning  their 
careers  and  thus  obtain  a  picture  of  the 
route  over  which  a  new  entrant  into 


Kitson:  Histories  of  Psychologists 


279 


the  field  may  expect  to  travel.^  Such 
a  compilation  of  the  significant  events 
in  the  careers  of  these  full  professors 
in  the  Association  (numbering  222)  has 
been  made.  Results  are  shown  graph- 
ically in  the  form  of  a  "vocational 
ladder"  (fig.  2). 

From  this  ladder  we  can  see  the 
median  age  at  which  the  "typical" 
psychologist  received  his  Bachelor's 
degree  (twenty-three)  and  each  of  the 
other  degrees  and  ranks  until  he  at- 
tained the  rank  of  professor  at  the  age 
of  thirty-seven.  For  purposes  of  com- 
parison compilations  have  been  made 
of  the  histories  of  professors  of  Zoology, 
Chemistry  and  Mathematics.  The 
psychologists  seem  to  have  reached  the 
various  rungs  in  the  ladder  a  year  or 
two  later  than  these  other  groups  of 
scientists. 

It  should  be  recognized  that  the 
term  "Full  Professor"  is  a  trifle  am- 
biguous. It  may  be  held  in  a  small 
college  where  there  is  only  one  member 
of  the  Department  of  Psychology,  who 
would  naturally  be  caUed  a  Professor, 
or  it  may  be  held  in  a  large  university 
where  there  may  be  a  dozen  or  more 
members  of  the  staff.  A  previous  in- 
vestigation has  shown  that  in  at  least 
two  large  institutions,  Chicago  and 
Columbia,  the  professorship  is  reached 
later  than  in  institutions  at  large.'* 
The  figures  from  this  investigation 
appear  in  figure  2.  They  show  that 
whereas  these  scientists  reached  the 
professorship  between  34  and  37  in  in- 

'  Kitson,  Harry  D.,  "The  Scientific  Com- 
pilation of  Vocational  Histories  as  a  Means 
of  Vocational  Guidance,"  Teachers  College 
Record,  September,  1926,  pp.  50-58. 

*  Kitson,  Harry  D.,  "Relation  Between 
Age  and  Promotion  of  University  Pro- 
fessors," School  and  Society,  Vol.  XXIV, 
No.  613,  September  25,  1926. 


stitutions  in  general,  (and  these  figures 
are  probably  representative  also  of 
professors  in  non-scientific  fields),  in 
the  two  large  institutions,  Columbia 
and  Chicago,  they  do  not  reach  the 
professorship  on  the  average  until  40 
and  44  respectively. 

Attention  has  often  been  called  to 
the  number  of  psychologists  who  have 
become  college  presidents.  The  num- 
ber is  actually  eleven,  or  four  per  cent 
of  the  coUege  teachers.  A  vocational 
ladder  compiled  from  their  histories 
shows  conditions  about  the  same  as 
those  for  professors  with  the  additional 
fact  that  they  became  president  at  the 
median  age  of  forty -two. 

THE  doctor's  degree  AND  MARRIAGE 

Of  the  many  facts  derived  from  this 
study  which  will  assist  in  the  voca- 
tional guidance  of  would-be  psychol- 
ogists, we  shall  present  but  one  more. 
It  concerns  the  relation  between  age  at 
time  of  marriage  and  age  at  which  the 
Doctor's  degree  was  secured.  Exper- 
ienced psychologists,  in  counseUing 
young  men  who  would  be  psychol- 
ogists, usually  advise  them  to  take  the 
Doctor's  degree  without  delay;  partly 
because  it  is  difficult  to  secure  a  posi- 
tion and  do  good  work  without  the 
degree  and  the  training  for  which  it 
stands;  and  partly  because,  if  it  is 
postponed,  other  things  are  Hkely  to 
delay  it  or  prevent  it  entirely.  Among 
these  deterrents  is  marriage.  Psychol- 
ogists who  have  taken  their  degree 
relatively  late  in  fife  are  frequently 
heard  to  say  that  their  marriage  with 
its  attendant  responsibihties  was  the 
retarding  factor.  In  order  to  secure 
exact  information  on  this  point  these 
vocational  histories  were  examined 
again.     Of  the  131  persons  whose  dates 


280 


Kitson:  Histories  of  Psychologists 


of  marriage  were  available,  75  secured 
the  degree  before  marriage;  the  median 
age  at  which  they  obtained  it  was 
twenty-eight.  The  fifty-six  who  took 
the  degree  after  marriage  received  it 
at  the  age  of  thirty-three.  This  seems 
to  indicate  that  in  the  case  of  marriage 
before  taking  the  degree  there  is  a 
retardation  in  the  age  of  securing  the 
degree  amounting  on  the  average  to 
five  years.  On  the  other  hand  those 
who  took  their  degree  early  were 
obliged  to  defer  their  marriage  until 
the  age  of  thirty-three,  while  the  first 


TABLE  2 

Relation  between  Doctor's  decree,  marriage 

and  full  professorship 

a  s 
p  c 

a 

a 
ai 

< 
s 

0 

O 

a 

0. 

ci 

Degree  first:  Median  age 
(75  cases) 

28.07 
33.00 

3.42 
5.58 

32.55 
27.88 

5.68 
4.10 

35.45 
37.80 

fi  ")« 

Marriage  first:  Median 

fi  44 

group  were  married  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight.  From  these  figures  it 
seems  clear  that  to  marry  before  taking 
the  degree  delays  it  on  the  average 
five  years;  and  to  take  the  Doctor's 
degree  before  marriage  delays  that 
event  five  years. 

In  order  to  ascertain  which  of  these 
two  procedures  is  more  efficient  from 
the  standpoint  of  progression  in  aca- 
demic rank  the  professors  of  psychology 
whose  dates  of  marriage  were  available 
were  divided  into  two  groups — those 
who  took  the  degree  before  marriage 
and  those  who  took  it  after  marriage. 
The  median  age  at  which  the  members 
of  each  group  attained  the  rank  of  pro- 
fessor was  then  computed  as  shown  in 
table  2.  Here  it  is  seen  that  those  who 
took  the  degree  first  became  professors 
at  the  age  of  35  and  those  who  married 


first  reached  the  goal  at  the  age  of 
approximately  38.  The  difference  of 
2.35  years  seems  to  be  a  real  difference, 
being  almost  forty  times  the  probable 
error  of  difference;  and  it  seems  to  give 
some  justification  to  the  warning  fre- 
quently voiced  by  older  psychologists 
to  the  effect  that  in  order  to  progress 
academically  a  young  man  had  better 
get  his  degree  as  soon  as  possible. 
Though  it  estabhshes  with  equal  clear- 
ness the  fact  that  to  follow  this  advice 
is  Ukely  to  delay  marriage  about  five 
years.  As  to  which  procedure  gives 
rise  to  the  greatest  amount  of  happi- 
ness in  the  long  run  the  investigation 
gives  no  information. 

CONCLUSION 

This  investigation,  designed  to  re- 
veal facts  about  the  vocation  of  psy- 
chologist has  rehed  chiefly  on  the 
study  of  vocational  histories.  An  ex- 
amination has  been  made  of  the  largest 
homogeneous  group — namely,  teachers 
in  collegiate  institutions;  and  compara- 
tive figures  have  been  shown  consisting 
of  similar  records  of  professors  in  other 
scientific  fields.  The  investigation  has 
revealed  facts  that  are  of  considerable 
importance  to  a  young  person  who  is 
contemplating  the  profession  of  psy- 
chologist as  a  life  work.  The  investi- 
gation is  being  continued  as  part  of  a 
large  research  among  the  scientists  of 
the  United  States  (Doctoral  disserta- 
tion of  C.  J.  Ho,  Teachers  College, 
Columbia  University).  It  is  hoped 
that  by  the  collection  of  such  materials 
as  are  thus  made  available,  provision 
will  ultimately  be  made  for  a  more 
rational  recruitment  of  psychologists 
and  for  a  sane  vocational  guidance 
among  undergraduates  in  college. 

{Manuscript  received  July  25,  1927.) 


Saving  Time  in  Testing 


By  Oscar  W.  Richards 


The  Otis  General  Intelligence  Examination  was  given  to  319  normal 
adults  and  scores  obtained  with  a  15  minute  time  limit  and  a  30  minute 
time  limit.  The  correlation  between  the  two  was  0.84.  The  rehability 
of  the  15  minute  scores  was  0.74  and  the  30  minute  scores  0.85.  Tables 
are  given  for  conversion  of  scores  from  one  time  limit  to  the  other. 


THE  Otis  General  InteUigence 
Examination  may  be  given  with 
a  time  limit,  or  the  subject  may 
be  allowed  to  take  what  tune  is  neces- 
sary for  him  to  complete  the  test. 
Adults  of  average  ability  finish  more 
than  half  the  items  in  the  test  during  a 
15  minute  interval.  This  paper  finds 
the  reliabiHty  of  the  test  to  be  almost 
as  high  when  it  is  administered  for  15 
minutes  as  it  is  for  longer  periods. 

This  test  was  given  to  319  normal 
adults  who  were  asked  to  draw  a  line 
under  the  last  item  finished  at  the  end 
of  15  and  30  minutes.  These  individ- 
uals comprised  3  groups.  One  group 
consisted  of  45  probation  nurses  at 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  an- 
other of  about  100  college  men  and 
women,  mainly  undergraduate  stu- 
dents, and  the  rest  were  in  one  of  the 
classes  in  vocational  guidance  at 
Northeastern  University. 

The  tests  were  scored  as  the  number 
of  items  correctly  answered  for  15  and 
30  minute  periods.    The  mean  for  the 

'  The  tests  upon  which  this  paper  is 
based  were  made  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Psychological  Laboratory,  Boston  Psy- 
chopathic Hospital. 


15  minute  period  is  37.8  and  the  stand- 
ard deviation  is  7.2  items.  For  the 
30  minute  test  period  the  arithmetic 
mean  is  50.9  items,  the  standard  devia- 
tion is  7.9  items.  No  extra  credit  was 
added  to  these  scores  for  speed  because 
this  amount  would  be  directly  propor- 
tional, as  the  time  was  limited  to  15  or 
30  minutes.  These  scores  give  a  cor- 
relation of  r  =  0.84±0.014. 

The  scores  for  the  odd  and  even 
items  on  the  test  were  correlated  for 
both  the  15  and  30  minute  test  periods 
using  every  fifth  paper  from  the  above 
group  for  this  purpose.  The  reha- 
bihties  for  the  15  and  30  minute 
periods  are  Vn  =  0.74  and  0.85  respec- 
tively. This  small  increase  in  relia- 
biHty may  not  justify  the  expenditure 
of  twice  the  amount  of  time  in  the 
practical  use  of  the  test.^ 

For  the  convenience  of  those  who 
may  use  the  Otis  test  with  the  shorter 
time  limit,  the  30  minute  scores  that 
correspond  to  the  15  minute  scores  are 

^  Similar  conclusions  were  reached  by 
Hansen  and  Ream  for  a  short  form  of  the 
Army  test.  They  used  a  shorter  form  of 
the  test  and  compared  the  scores  for  differ- 
ent time  limits  {Jour.  Applied  Psych.,  1921, 
5:  184r-7). 


281 


282 


Richards:  Saving  Time  in  Testing 


given  in  table  1.  The  15  minute  scores 
corresponding  with  the  30  minute 
scores   are   shown   in   table   2.     The 


TABLE  1 

OBTAINED 

15-MINUTE 

SCORE 

CORRE- 
SPONDING 
30 -MINUTE 
SCORE 

OBTAINED 

15-MINUTE 

SCORE 

CORRE- 
8PONDINO 
30-.MINUTE 

SCORE 

20 

36 

36 

48.5 

22 

38 

38 

51 

24 

39.4 

40 

52 

26 

41.8 

42 

53.5 

28 

42.4 

44 

55 

30 

44 

46 

56.5 

32 

45.5 

48 

58 

34 

47 

50 

59.5 

TABLE  2 


OBTAINED 

30-MINUTE 

SCORE 

CORRE- 
SPONDING 
15-MINUTE 
SCORE 

OBTAINED 

30-MINUTE 

SCORE 

CORRE- 
SPONDING 
15-MINUTB 
SCORE 

40 
42 
44 
46 

48 
50 
52 
54 

30.6 

32 

33.6 

35 

36.7 

38 

39.5 

41.0 

56 
58 
60 
62 
64 
66 
68 
70 

42.5 

44 

45.5 

46.4 

48.5 

50 

51.5 

53 

TABLE  3 

OBTAINED 

15  MINUTE 

SCORE 

CORRE- 
SPONDING 
30  MINUTE 
SCORES- 
CREDIT  FOR 
SPEED 

OBTAINED 

15  MINUTE 

SCORE 

CORRE- 
SPONDING 
30-MI.VCTB 

SCO  RE -f 
CREDIT  FOR 

SPEED 

20 
22 
24 
26 
28 
30 
32 
34 

41 

43 

44.4 

46.8 

48.4 

50 

51.5 

55 

36 

38 
40 
42 
44 
46 
48 
50 

56.5 
60 

62 

63.5 

66 

68.5 

71 

73.5 

observed  regressions  are  very  linear 
and  the  above  tables  were  read  from 
calculated  regression  lines  on  a  graph 
having  a  large  scale.  The  probable 
error  of  the  score  is  4.7  for  the  15 
minute  scores  and  4.2  for  the  30  minute 
scores.  Table  3  gives  the  scores  plus 
the  credits  for  speed  that  correspond 
with  the  15  minute  scores.  These 
equivalents  may  be  used  with  the  per- 
centile ranks  given  on  the  Otis  Test 
direction  sheet. 

{Manuscript  received  Septeviher  28,  1927.) 


The  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work' 

By  Richard  H.  Paynter 

Mental  Hygiene  is  a  term  which  has  long  needed  clarifying. 
Because  of  their  divergence  of  training  and  viewpoint,  the  psy- 
chiatrist and  the  clinical  psychologist  have  delayed  rather  than 
furthered  a  precise  statement  of  methods  and  concepts  of  mental 
hygiene.  Dr.  Paynter,  who  is  exceptionally  well  qualified  to 
speak  on  the  subject,  succeeds  well  in  defining  the  province  of 
the  clinical  psychologist  and  his  place  in  the  mental  hygiene 
movement. 


THERE  are  no  college  courses 
that  prepare  a  student  for  the 
career  of  the  clinical  psycholo- 
gist who  must  perforce  collaborate 
with  other  professional  workers  in  the 
task  of  correcting  and  improving 
human  conduct  in  every  day  life. 
This  state  of  affairs-  is  largely  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  psychological  prac- 
titioner has  neglected  to  make  of  his 
position  a  study  which  is  scientifically 
analytic.  In  the  matter  of  testing, 
cHnical  psychology  carries  at  present 
too  much  of  the  cloistered  ring  of 
academic  theorists,  and  in  re-education 
too  much  of  the  enthusiast's  favorite 
brand  of  psychotherapy.     The  massed 

1  This  article  is  part  of  a  paper  on  "Psy- 
chology and  Psychometrics"  that  was  read 
before  the  Yale  University  Medical  School 
on  April  29,  1927.  It  was  given  in  the  series 
of  lectures  provided  by  the  Commonwealth 
Fund,  for  the  purpose  of  relating  Mental 
Hygiene  and  Psychiatry  to  their  basic 
sciences. 

2  The  psychiatrist,  medical  examiner, 
social  worker  and  other  cooperating  agen- 
cies are  no  better  off  in  their  preparation. 


application  of  large  doses  of  mental 
treatment  leads  to  dire  results  for  the 
patients.  Chnical  ps3^chology  can- 
not be  transferred  bodily  from  class- 
room to  mental  hygiene  clinics.  Its 
operations  in  the  clinic  must  be  care- 
fully examined.  In  the  general  field 
of  mental  hygiene  there  are  likewise 
high  hghts  and  low  lights:  scientific 
aims  and  problems  being  forgotten 
and  the  worker's  endeavors  being 
frequently  at  variance  with  them.^ 

It  is  beyond  the  length  of  this  paper 
to  make  a  complete  job  analysis,  but 
it  may  nevertheless  be  interesting  to 
give  a  description  of  the  chnical 
psychologist  at  work.  This  may  per- 
haps be  more  enhghtening  if  we  first 
sketch  on  a  brief  historical  background 
just  what  the  phrase  mental  hygiene 
has  come  to  mean  and  what  have  been 
some  of  its  principal  sources  of 
development. 

2  See  author's  Humanizing  Psychology 
in  the  Study  of  Behavior  Problems  in  Chil- 
dren, School  and  Soc,  1926,  24,  567-571. 


283 


284 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

The  writer  is  aware  that  mental 
hygiene  has  formed  the  subject  of  an 
earlier  lecture.  To  relate  psychology 
and  psychometry  to  it,  a  few  words 
may  not  be  amiss  and  it  is  hoped  not 
in  repetition  of  what  has  been  said 
before.  As  far  as  he  has  been  able  to 
learn  the  one  who  devised  the  phrase 
is  not  known.  Some  writers  have 
credited  Adolf  Meyer  as  the  originator, 
but  it  was  in  use  many  years  before 
he  suggested  it  to  Clifford  W.  Beers. 
In  1851  Dr.  Isaac  Ray,  who  was  a 
specialist  in  mental  and  nervous 
diseases,  published  a  book  entitled 
Education  in  Relation  to  the  Health 
of  the  Brain,  and  in  1863,  another 
under  the  very  modern  title  of  Mental 
Hygiene.^  In  1899  Wilhan  Burnham 
published  an  article  on  Mental  Hy- 
giene, and  William  James  refers  to 
the  subject  twice  in  his  chapter  on 
"The  Gospel  of  Relaxation.''^ 

It  is  only  since  the  year  1919  that 
mental  hygiene  has  been  printed  in 
the  table  of  contents  of  the  Psycho- 
logical Index.  Even  so  it  does  not 
occupy  a  special  place,  for  it  is  in- 
cluded as  a  partial  subtitle  under 
the  division  on  Childhood  and  Adoles- 
cence of  the  section  on  Mental  De- 
velopment in  Man.  In  the  latest 
Psj^chological  Index  issued  in  1927  we 
find  that  the  topic  of  mental  hygiene 
has  cross-references  to  a  division 
under  Social  Functions  of  the  Individ- 
ual, on  Degeneracy,  Prostitution, 
Criminology,  Suicide,  Dehnquency; 
to  a  division  under  Special  Mental 
Conditions,  on  Psychoanalysis,  Hj'^p- 

*  Johnson's  New  Encyclopedia,  Vol.  10. 
» Talks  to  Teachers. 


nosis.  Suggestion,  Subconsciousness, 
Unconscious,  Sex  and  Personality; 
and  to  three  divisions  under  Xervous 
and  Mental  Disorders,  on  General 
Psychopathology,  Psychiatry,  Hospi- 
tal Management,  Classification  of 
Disorders,  Diagnosis,  Prophylaxis  and 
Treatment,  Instruments  and  Appli- 
ances, Unclassed  Symptoms,  Mai-, 
developments  and  Mental  Deficiencies. 
Well,  this  motley  company  is  on  the 
whole  of  rather  a  forbidding  reputa- 
tion for  mental  hygiene  to  be  found 
in.  Yet  they  all  have  their  mental 
hygiene  aspects.  I  had  written  and 
once  deleted  that  the  least  said  about 
this  classification  the  better,  as  they 
do  give  a  lop-sided  notion  of  mental 
hygiene  in  its  negative  phases.  In 
addition  to  these  diseases  and  correc- 
tive aspects,  mental  hygiene  is  truly 
associated  with  the  very  highest 
achievements  of  man.  The  speaker 
believes  further  that  some  of  the 
greatest  contributions  to  mental  hy- 
giene have  been  made  in  studies  that 
were  not  so  entitled  and  that  did  not 
even  refer  to  it. 

Take  for  instance  the  results  of  the 
work  by  Watson  and  others,  showing 
the  dynamic  effects  of  environmental 
influences  on  infants  and  children. 
They  have  radically  changed  our 
views  as  to  the  part  played  by  heredity 
in  the  determination  of  character  and 
achievement.  Is  this  not  mental  hy- 
giene when  better  emotional  stability 
and  fuller  intellectual  development 
are  predicted  in  the  recognition  of 
this  greater  pliability  of  human  nature, 
about  which  we  are  now  more  hopeful 
and  in  which  we  can  have  higher 
faith?  In  the  same  vein  we  may 
laud  the  gains  in  educational  science 


Paynter  :  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


285 


that  measurement  has  won.  Think 
what  it  means  for  countless  millions 
of  students  from  the  nursery  to  the 
university,  all  over  the  world,  to  be 
saved  years  of  fruitless  labor,  eye- 
strain., ill-health,  worries,  disappoint- 
ments, to  go  no  further,  in  being 
better  taught,  in  having  better  text- 
books and  curricula,  in  being  better 
graded  and  classified.  There  is  noth- 
ing extravagant  about  this  claim;  it 
is  a  fact  accomplished  by  the  genius 
and  labor  of  psychologists  and  scienti- 
fic educators.  If  only  three  main 
subjects  are  mentioned  we  can  get  a 
sufficient  grasp  of  its  significance: 
how  to  study  economically  and  effi- 
ciently, and  the  achievement  of  higher 
levels  in  language  and  mathematics. 
But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all 
students  have  been  thus  affected 
favorably;  the  least  progressive  schools 
have  not  profited  at  all,  while  the  most 
progressive  have  profited  greatly. 

ORGANIZATION     OF     THE     MENTAL 
HYGIENE   CLINIC 

The  mental  hygiene  clinic  today 
exists  under  varying  conditions.  It 
may  be  an  independent  organization, 
or  it  may  be  connected  with  a  variety 
of  institutions.  Some  are  as  follows: 
Hospitals  (and  in  out-patient  depart- 
ments and  dispensaries),  community 
health  centers,  courts,  prisons,  wel- 
fare organizations,  department  stores, 
public  and  private  schools,  and  in  the 
university.  Many  employ  trained 
psychologists,  and  many  have  psy- 
chological work  conducted  by  un- 
trained persons.  The  problems  and 
methods  of  the  psychologist  differ 
considerably  from  one  clinic  to  another, 
depending  on  the  set-up  and  what  the 


aims  are.  In  some  cUnics  the  psy- 
chologist may  use  a  large  variety  of 
tests  and  the  interview,  and  also 
assist  in  planning  and  carrying  out 
re-educational  work.  In  other  cHnics 
the  psychologist  is  confined  to  obtain- 
ing mental  ratings  and  reporting  them 
to  his  superiors. 

The  mental  hygiene  clinic  is  em- 
barrassed by  its  success.  Untrained 
and  ill-prepared  persons  are  rushing 
ahead  in  the  establishment  of  clinics, 
and  are  spreading  through  the  press 
on  the  opening  day  preposterous 
claims  of  what  they  can  do  in  the  way 
of  changing  human  behavior.  Just 
because  a  number  of  socially-minded 
physicians  and  professors  of  psy- 
chology get  together  to  start  a  clinic, 
or  a  group  of  even  less  well  equipped 
school  officers  and  ladies  of  leisure, 
is  no  reason  to  beheve  that  a  good 
mental  hygiene  study  will  result. 
There  is  no  telHng  these  cUnics  by 
name  as  they  choose  those  having  the 
highest  significance  in  the  community. 
We  have  been  told  that  chronic  truants 
of  many  years  standing  are  cured  over 
night  by  a  single  talk  with  a  proba- 
tion officer!  "CHnic  Battles  the  Crime 
Wave"  is  the  heading  of  a  recent  news 
item.  But  they  never  tell  you  just 
how  it  is  done,  or  show  you  the  results 
of  the  check-up. 

The  mental  hygiene  chnic  owes 
nothing  to  this  sensational  wing  for 
its  growth.  And  no  particular  group 
of  speciahsts  has  a  corner  on  it.  It  is 
a  fact,  however,  that  the  psychiatrists 
of  the  state  societies  and  the  National 
Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene  have 
been  largely  responsible  for  the  awak- 
ening of  public  opinion  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  need  of  mental  hygiene, 


286 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


for  the  organization  of  the  mental 
hygiene  clinic  as  a  unit,  and  for  its 
growth  and  development  on  a  working 
basis.  Psychologists  have  had  clinics 
for  more  than  thirty  j'cars,  and  they 
were  interested  in  the  mental  hygiene 
movement  from  the  verj^  start.  The 
investigations  that  they  were  quietly 
conducting  in  the  laboratories  and 
classrooms  were  yielding  principles, 
methods  and  norms  that  were  later 
to  form  an  important  part  of  mental 
hygiene  service.  But  it  took  the 
psychiatrist's  experience  in  treat- 
ment, his  entree  into  general  health 
matters  and  his  prestige  to  make  it  a 
practical  proposition.  Some  of  the 
many  titles  by  which  these  clinics  are 
called  are;  psj'chiatric,  psychologi- 
cal, neuro-psychiatric,  child  guidance, 
problem,  behavior,  welfare,  habit, 
mental,  mental  health  and  mental 
hygiene. 

The  actual  investigating  staff  of  the 
mental  hygiene  clinic  consists  in 
general  at  the  present  time  of  one  or 
more  of  the  following:  a  psychiatrist, 
medical  examiner,  psychologist  and 
social  worker.  The  director  is  a 
psychiatrist,  and  often  conducts  the 
general  medical  examination.  All  the 
workers,  however,  deal  w^ith  the  in- 
dividual's mental  life.  The  methods 
of  the  psj'chiatrist  and  the  psycholo- 
gist are  in  general  different,  though 
they  may  each  study  the  same  or  differ- 
ent mental  processes  of  the  individual. 
The  psj^chiatrist  employs  the  subjec- 
tive method  of  the  interview,  and  the 
psychologist  uses  quantitative  and 
genetic  methods,  with  the  interview  in 
certain  parts  of  his  work.  Remedial 
work  is  done  by  each;  where  the 
direct  point  of  attack  appears  to  be  in 


the  emotions  the  psj'chiatrist  handles 
the  individual;  where  the  intellectual 
or  educational  domains  need  attention 
the  psychologist  handles  the  individ- 
ual. As  the  fusion  of  all  mental 
activities  is  close  and  as  both  workers 
deal  rarely  with  only  one  of  them, 
there  can  be  no  advantage  in  pro- 
fessional walls.  Occasionally  the  two 
workers  see  the  same  child  for  different 
speciahzed  things,  or  over  different 
periods  of  time.  Both  the  psychiatrist 
and  psychologist  study  the  mental 
life  in  relation  to  the  individual's  en- 
vironment at  home,  in  school,  outdoors, 
etc.  The  psychiatrist  is  better  able 
to  study  certain  aspects  of  the  mental 
life  in  relation  to  the  individual's 
bodily  activities,  which  is  the  main 
task  of  the  medical  examination. 
Finally  the  social  worker  collects  a 
history  of  the  individual,  studies  his 
mental  life  through  the  operations  of 
the  environmental  stimuli,  and  helps 
to  adapt  him  better  largely  through 
changing  these  stimuli.  The  actual 
examinations  and  treatments  are 
closely  inter-related  and  interdepend- 
ent. A  mental  hygiene  study  is  a 
composite  account  of  all  of  them. 

CONCEPTIONS      OF      MENTAL      HYGIENE 

Though  there  is  a  variety  of  defini- 
tions of  mental  hygiene,  it  may  be 
interesting  for  the  purpose  of  concise- 
ness to  propose  a  definition  on  the 
basis  of  the  mental  hygiene  study. 
Thus  the  following  factors  and  condi- 
tions are  part  and  parcel  of  human 
behavior  as  we  work  with  it;  physical 
conditions,  psychological  activities, 
educational  achievement,  social  rela- 
tions, religious  background,  vocational 
outlook,  economic  status,  cultural  and 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


287 


material  en\aronments.  From  the 
manifold  problems,  methods  and  activ- 
ities involved  therein  we  may  expect 
that  mental  hygiene  cannot  be  easily 
narrowed.  And  yet  we  may  say 
briefly  that  mental  hygiene  is  the 
study  and  improvement  of  the  bodily, 
mental  and  social  reactions  of  the 
individual  with  the  view  of  making 
and  keeping  him  as  eflficient  and  con- 
tented as  possible. 

In  referring  to  the  realization  of  the 
ideal  of  mental  hygiene,  W.  S.  Taylor^ 
emphasizes  prevention,  and  covers 
approximately  the  same  grounds  when 
he  says  that 

These  forms  [of  prevention]  are  essentially 
the  following :  A  eugenic  policy  which  would 
prevent  the  birth  of  the  mentally  useless; 
physical  welfare,  including  fresh  air,  sun- 
shine, and  such  other  factors  as  make  for 
bodilj'  health;  adequate  economic  condi- 
tions which  would  eliminate  undernourish- 
ment and  over-work;  the  social  situation, 
involving,  for  example,  elimination  of 
avoidable  ostracism,  and  supplying  instead 
wholesome  personal  associations;  and 
finally,  what  might  be  called  educational 
methods — the  inculcation  of  sound  habits, 
ideas,  and  attitudes  in  general.  These 
educational  means  are  of  great  hygienic 
importance,  especially  for  the  more  intel- 
ligent minds,  and  are  accordingly  of  great 
interest. 

Wm.  Burnham  has  given  the  most 
elaborate  presentation  of  the  subject 
of  mental  hygiene.'''  From  the  stand- 
point of  direct  personal  appHcation  in 
the  conduct  of  life  we  may  refer 
briefly  in  passing  among  the  psycholo- 
gists to  William  James,  G.  Stanley 
Hall's  Morale  in  particular,  the  last 

*  In  his  chapter  on  "Mental  Hj-giene" 
in  Readings  in  Abnormal  Psychology  and 
Mental  Hygiene,  1926,  p.  743, 

■  The  Normal  Mind,  1925. 


chapter  in  E.  L.  Thorndike's  Ele- 
ments of  Psychology,  R.  S.  Wood- 
worth's  primer  on  the  Care  of  the 
Body,  and  Mental  Adjustments  by 
F.  L.  Wells. 

One  may  perhaps  naturally  expect 
that  writers  would  in  general  agree 
as  to  what  mental  hygiene  is.  But 
it  becomes  quite  a  different  thing 
when  they  emphasize  one  aspect  of  it 
to  the  exclusion  of  others.  It  is  most 
commonly  regarded  as  an  art  and 
scarcely  ever  spoken  of  as  a  science, 
or  an  applied  science  or  a  technologi- 
cal discipHne.  It  may  be  worth 
while  to  see  how  these  three  interpreta- 
tions of  mental  hygiene  arise  and 
fuse.  In  the  first  place  mental  hy- 
giene is  founded  on  a  number  of 
sciences,  and  on  their  appUcations. 
To  mention  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant ones  by  name:  phj'siology,  psy- 
chology, psychiatry,  medicine,  sociol- 
ogy and  mathematics.^  They  are  of 
varying  degrees  of  purity  and  inter- 
dependence. From  the  standpoint 
that  mental  hygiene  employs  their 
principles  and  methods,  it  is  a  com- 
posite technological  discipline.  The 
possession  of  knowledge  about  them 
and  the  skillful  execution  of  their 
practical  applications  to  a  case  at 
hand  is  all  that  we  can  really  mean 
when  we  say  that  mental  hygiene  is 
an  art.  To  the  worker  mainly  inter- 
ested in  the  conduct  of  the  examina- 
tions and  in  changing  the  individual's 
beha\'ior  for  the  better,  mental  hygiene 
is  an  art.  But  it  cannot  reach  the 
level  of  art  unless  the  technical 
principles  have  been  mastered  as  with 
the  violin. 

8  Outside  of  the  sciences,  E.  E.  Southard 
would  include  literature  and  philosophy. 


288 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


Another  worker  may  be  engaged  in 
discovering  new  facts  or  conditions  of 
human  behavior  and  in  developing  new 
methods  of  changing  it.  While  thus 
adding  to  the  sum  total  of  our  scienti- 
fic knowledge  he  makes  of  mental 
hygiene  a  science.  As  in  other  fields 
of  inquiry  there  are  fewer  original 
workers  than  there  are  technicians  or 
as  we  may  say  in  a  specialized  sense, 
artists.  The  research  worker  is  of 
rarer  make-up  and  requires  very 
special  training  in  scientific  methods. 
Now  workers  vary  in  the  degrees  of 
their  knowledge  and  applications  of 
the  principles  and  methods  of  their 
science,  as  they  do  in  the  reliability 
and  originality  of  their  research. 
The  best  general  practice  would  per- 
haps require  some  of  each  in  the  make- 
up of  the  worker.  There  is  no  sharp 
dividing  line,  for  we  know  that  the 
technological  worker  may  be  interested 
in  discovering  things  in  a  particular 
case,  as  the  scientific  worker  discovers 
facts  from  larger  groups  for  applica- 
tion to  particular  cases.  Nor  are 
all  good  workers  balanced  by  these 
two  types  of  activities,  the  former 
may  be  totally  uninterested  in  science, 
and  the  latter  may  be  devoted  to  it. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  mental  hygiene  is 
what  the  worker  makes  it. 

Metaphorically  speaking,  the  mental 
hygiene  worker  plays  on  instruments 
to  bring  out  rhythm,  harmony  and 
melody,  no  less  than  does  Kreisler  or 
Paderewski.  The  musician's  instru- 
ment offers  no  resistance,  at  least  of 
an  active  contrary  sort.  The  mental 
instrument,  on  the  other  hand,  gener- 
ally rebels  with  discords  and  unreliable 
time  to  the  efforts  of  the  mental 
hygienist.     Neither    in    variety    nor 


comple.xity  do  musical  instruments 
compare  with  human  beings.  It  is 
consequently  easier  to  arouse  sublime 
feelings  through  the  rendition  of  a  sym- 
phonic poem  on  musical  instruments 
all  attuned  than  it  is  to  correct  phys- 
ical disease,  repair  broken  spirits, 
eliminate  discords  and  devastating 
fears  so  that  we  can  assist  individuals 
to  scale  the  heights  of  achievement. 

Woodworth  wrote  about  twenty 
years  ago,  that  "Psychology  and 
psychiatry''  have  grown  up  in  relative 
isolation  from  each  other"  as  did 
medicine.^  Social  work  also  seemed 
to  have  had  little  to  do  with  them. 
Today  I  question  whether  this  condi- 
tion has  much  improved.  To  be  sure 
for  some  years  they  have  been  related 
in  clinics  through  cooperating  on  cases, 
but  these  have  been  largely  surface 
contacts.  In  certain  clinics  one  dis- 
cipHne  would  dominate  the  other  to 
the  point  of  bare  recognition.  On  the 
whole  there  has  been  only  a  slight  inter- 
change or  adoption  of  principles  and 
methods  in  their  actual  developments. 
Psychiatry  still  abhors  measurement. 
Social  work  operating  without  guid- 
ing measures  in  a  fair  proportion 
of  cases  still  endeavors  to  better 
human  material  that  is  unadaptable 
or  long  after  it  has  passed  the  dead 
line  of  improvement.  Some  schools  of 
psychology  still  march  ghbly  on  deny- 
ing emotional  effects  on  the  intellect 
and  ignoring  the  powerful  effects  of 
environmental  stimuli.  "What  we 
need,"  says  Cattell,  "is  a  science  that 
will    coordinate    all    efforts    to    alter 

'  Psychiatry  and  Experimental  Psychol- 
ogy, Proceedings  of  the  American  Medico- 
Psychological  Assn.,  62nd  Annual  Meeting, 
1906,  p.  125. 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


289 


human  nature  or  to  control  conduct 
with  the  effects  of  all  changes  in  the 
environment  that  alter  our  behavior 
or  increase  welfare.  "^'^  The  most  com- 
prehensive beginnings  in  this  direc- 
tion are:  the  broad  programs  of  re- 
search and  service  that  are  being 
undertaken  by  the  Child  Develop- 
ment Committee  of  the  National 
Research  Council,  whereby  the  results 
of  all  the  fields  will  be  studied  and 
combined,  the  stimulation  to  teaching 
and  practice  that  is  being  afforded  by 
the  efforts  of  this  series  of  Yale  lec- 
tures, and  the  broadcasting  of  mental 
hygiene  principles  and  the  establish- 
ment of  clinics  by  the  National  Com- 
mittee for  Mental  Hygiene. 

THE   PSYCHOLOGIST   AT   WORK 

The  psychologist  of  a  mental  hy- 
giene clinic  has  ten  main  steps  in  his 
daily  round  of  duties  in  deahng  with 
children.  These  duties  are  inter- 
woven and  are  related  to  those  of  other 
staff  workers.  The  first  information 
that  a  psychologist  gets  about  an  in- 
dividual is  through  the  social  worker's 
history,  which  he  carefully  studies 
and  analyzes  in  preparation  for  his 
examination.  This  preliminary  step 
is  necessary  in  allowing  time  to  sum- 
marize both  what  is  known  about 
him  and,  equally  if  not  more  important 
what  is  not  known  about  hhn.  The 
social  history  forms  the  basis  of  the 
whole  mental  hygiene  study,  •  and  is 
not  something  merely  to  be  "glimpsed" 
at,  as  one  university  professor  recently 
informed  me.  Picture  for  a  moment 
just  what  it  shows  us,  even  before  the 
individual    himself    appears.     Laden 

"  Scientific  Monthly,  1927,  2i,  324-328. 


with  all  the  ills  that  flesh  and  mind  are 
heir  to,  the  stream  of  humanity  flows 
through  the  doors  of  the  mental  hy- 
giene clinic  from  all  sources  of  life. 
In  one  case  a  social  agency  asks  for 
help  in  understanding  and  bettering 
little  Jimmy,  whose  violent  and  stub- 
born disposition  has  made  him  the 
terror  of  the  neighborhood  and  a 
living  volcano  at  home.  Jimmy's 
mother  is  hard-pressed,  unwed,  just 
reheved  by  his  father  of  all  her  savings 
and  deserted  with  two  children  whom 
she  herself  was  sturdy  enough  to 
deliver. 

There  is  the  young  adolescent  who 
has  been  expelled  from  the  synagogue 
for  an  impelling  sex-urge  and  its  un- 
healthy expression.  In  another  case  a 
priest  gave  up  hope  when  stealing 
and  truanting  did  not  stop  with  cor- 
poral punishment.  There  is  the 
struggling  widow  whose  little  nine- 
year-old  girl  has  added  to  her  school 
failures  and  personality  problems  by 
contracting  gonorrhea  in  some  un- 
ascertained way.  There  are  the 
children  of  wealth  whose  magnani- 
mous parents  want  them  to  become 
philanthropists,  after  a  college  career; 
and  though  one  is  stupid  and  the 
other  bright,  both  are  getting  unsatis- 
factory school  marks.  No  end  of 
cases  appear  where  the  most  distress- 
ing worries  and  fears  are  engendered 
in  pushing  children  far  beyond  their 
limitations ;  the  children  being  blamed 
for  their  inattention,  want  of  effort, 
unwillingness  and  obstinacy,  when  a 
simple  test  would  show  sheer  lack  of 
capacity.  But  how  difficult  it  is  to 
get  ambitious  parents  to  accept  this 
and  to  revise  their  notions!  Another 
parent  motors   in   a  large   limousine 


290 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


from  a  neighboring  state  to  have  his 
son  gone  over  intellectually  and 
educationally.  Although  the  boy  pre- 
sents no  difficulty  whatever,  caution 
motivates  the  parent  to  see  whether 
any  educational  weaknesses  or  ineffi- 
cient methods  of  study  exist  that 
might  undermine  his  work  at  a  large 
eastern  university  which  he  will  be 
ready  to  enter  next  year.  A  little 
loafing,  which  could  not  be  made  up, 
had  caused  an  older  brother  to  flunk 
there  the  previous  year.  These  thumb- 
nail sketches  are  only  a  few  of  the 
hundreds  of  perplexing  problems  that 
are  referred  to  the  clinic. 

The  second  main  step  of  the  psychol- 
ogist takes  us  behind  the  scenes  where 
he  puts  the  individual  through  a 
course  of  tests  and  questionnaires. 
Among  the  findings  we  learn  of  the 
mental  age,  intelligence  quotient, 
which  give  a  fair  notion  of  the  scho- 
lastic height  he  can  attain  when 
bolstered  up  by  observations  regai'ding 
energy,  industriousness,  persistency, 
attention  to  details  and  the  like. 
The  educational  age  and  the  educa- 
tional quotient  indicate  the  individ- 
ual's academic  level,  and  when  com- 
pared with  the  results  of  the 
intelligence  test  we  have  a  general 
measure  of  his  achievement.  Sepa- 
rate school  subjects  may  be  rated  in 
age  units  that  are  approximately 
comparable  with  mental  age  and  life 
age,  and  indicate  the  presence  of 
abilities  and  disabilities.  Tests  of 
motor  capacity,  of  perception  of  form 
and  space  relations,  and  pictorial 
combinations,  give  a  non-linguistic 
mental  age.  Association  tests  probe 
knowledge  and  diseased  emotions. 
Replies  to  questions  concerning  inter- 


ests, likes  and  dishkes  open  up  the 
individual's  self.  Like  the  associa- 
tion test  the  replies  to  the  items  on 
the  questionnaire  of  the  Woodworth- 
Mathews  type  give  clues  to  the 
mechanisms  of  emotional  instabiUty, 
leading  up  almost  unawares  to  his 
inner  shrine.  Here  as  elsewhere  it 
seems  that  the  questions  which  can  be 
most  simply  stated  are  the  most  elusive 
ones.  The  psychologist  must  be  sure 
that  he  knows  what  behavior  segment 
or  mechanism  of  reaction  he  means  to 
study,  how  it  is  determined,  how  it  is 
related  to  other  elements  or  composites 
of  peculiar  or  favorable  conduct,  and 
how  this  relationship  was  determined. 

After  the  psychologist  has  scored 
and  calculated  his  data,  he  performs 
his  third  main  duty  when  he  announces 
the  results  to  the  social  worker  on  the 
case  for  her  information  and  to  obtain 
her  reactions  to  them.  Then  he  drops 
in  on  the  psychiatrist  to  transmit  his 
results  so  that  they  may  guide  him  in 
the  psychiatric  interview.  Any  sig- 
nificant replies  that  should  be  followed 
up  are  mentioned  and  in  some  in- 
stances the  questionnaire  is  entirely 
turned  over  to  him.  Special  observa- 
tions and  tests  may  be  requested  of 
the  medical  examiner.  The  psycholo- 
gist gathers  as  much  information  from 
these  two  examinations  as  he  can  for 
elucidating  his  own  findings.  These 
informal  consultant  and  advisory  du- 
ties link  up  the  examinations  and 
broaden  the  interpretations  while  they 
are  still  in  the  making. 

The  fourth  main  step  finds  the 
psychologist  writing  up  his  report, 
analyzing  and  synthesizing  all  of  his 
findings.  He  attempts  to  account  for 
peculiarities   of   conduct   and   school 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


291 


work  in  terms  of  the  examination,  and 
tries  also  to  explain  errors  and  dis- 
crepancies in  the  tests  on  the  basis  of 
conditioning  factors  in  his  bodily- 
activities  and  everyday  experiences. 
In  determining  the  equipment  of  the 
individual  and  his  capacity  to  change, 
the  psychologist  goes  as  far  with  his 
methods  and  knowledge  as  he  can  be 
of  any  aid.  He  realizes  fully  the 
futility  of  trying  to  account  for  why 
we  misbehave  like  human  beings  on 
any  schedule  that  does  not  take  in 
the  whole  individual  and  the  whole 
environment.  He  realizes  that  each 
requires  exhaustive  analyses  and  cor- 
relations. Besides  recording  mental 
ratings  and  ratios,  the  tests  furnish  a 
setting  for  the  measurement  of  such 
important  reactions  as  accuracy,  speed, 
thoroughness,  and  variability.  In  any 
estimate  of  an  individual's  control  and 
balance,  an  account  of  these  are 
necessary. 

The  fifth  main  step  finds  the 
psychologist  assembled  in  staff  con- 
ference with  the  psychiatrist,  social 
worker  and  other  workers  cooperating 
on  the  case.  New  information  is 
brought  out  and  in  the  mutual  ex- 
change of  ideas  in  the  discussion,  the 
findings  of  separate  studies  take  on 
new  light.  Recommendations  are 
proposed  for  the  treatment  of  the 
individual  from  the  medical,  psychi- 
atric, psychological,  educational  and 
social  standpoints.  Some  individuals 
come  in  for  only  one  of  these,  and 
others  for  all. 

The  sixth  step  finds  the  psychologist 
preparing  his  suggestions  and  recom- 
mendations for  practical  use.  How  can 
Johnny  be  helped  over  his  antagon- 
isms to  the  school,  the  teacher,  and  to 


studying?  How  can  Harry  be  per- 
suaded to  stop  disrupting  classroom 
order?  Is  it  in  compensation  for  his 
inferior  language  work?  What  roles 
do  unsatisfactory  arithmetic  and 
sarcastic  comments  from  the  teacher 
play  in  making  Sam  fearful  and 
nauseated  while  in  class?  How  can 
the  father  be  made  to  see  the  cruelty 
of  his  barbaric  methods  of  changing 
Sam's  behavior? 

The  seventh  main  step  is  concerned 
with  the  remedial  and  reeducational 
efforts  with  the  individual.  Treat- 
ment involves  the  creation  and  re- 
creation of  drives  in  the  individual 
and  of  influences  in  his  surroundings 
by  direct  and  indirect  means  so  as  to 
get  him  to  solve  his  present  conduct 
problems,  and  to  meet  his  future  ones 
squarely  and  effectively.  As  adapta- 
tion is  both  absolute  and  relative, 
depending  on  his  limits  of  improve- 
ment and  opportunities,  so  is  treat- 
ment both.  This  part  of  the  job 
makes  me  liken  the  clinic  to  a  service 
station  for  human  behavior,  where 
lost  power  is  located,  demoralizing 
friction  eliminated,  better  distribu- 
tion of  Kve  effort  suggested,  and  a 
new  spark  of  inspiration  inserted. 
There  may  be  no  blow-outs,  but  a 
great  many  temper  outbursts  have 
been  reduced  by  less  pressure.  As  a 
necessary  aid  to  the  behavior  stations 
is  the  important  work  of  such  caH- 
brating  laboratories  and  cHnics  as 
Baldwin's,  Gesell's  and  those  at  the 
universities  of  Columbia  and  Minne- 
sota. 

The  eighth  main  step  finds  the 
psychologist  again  consulting  with 
and  advising  the  other  workers  on  the 
case,  learning  of  progress  or  lack  of  it 


292 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 


from  their  special  angles.  The  ninth 
step  finds  psychologist  writing  up  his 
treatment  notes  of  examinations  and 
interviews.  The  tenth  and  last  main 
step  opens  upon  the  treatment  confer- 
ence where  the  psychologist  and  the 
other  workers  are  discussing  the  status 
of  the  individual  and  his  surroundings 
in  the  light  of  all  changes.  Proposals 
for  new  lines  of  activity  may  be  made 
or  original  ones  continued,  so  that  the 
last  five  steps  are  self-perpetuating  as 
long  as  the  case  continues  active  with 
the  clinic. 

This  bare  structural  description  of 
the  psychologist's  duties  with  the 
individual  directly  and  indirectly 
through  other  staff  members  leaves 
much  unsaid.  It  does  show,  however, 
both  the  way  the  individual  proceeds 
through  various  studies  and  how  the 
clinic  itself  operates.  Of  necessity  it 
omits  to  show  the  evolutionary  de- 
velopment of  the  reconmaendation 
plans,  and  how  the  examinations  are 
basic  to  the  treatment.  But  the 
determination  of  the  individual's 
wants,  his  recognition  of  ideals,  the 
application  of  the  laws  of  learning  and 
habit  formation  tie  up  theory  and 
practice.  One  by  one  the  parents, 
brothers  and  sisters  that  are  and  that 
are  to  be,  indulging  grandparents, 
teachers,  principal  and  minister  come 
for  their  round  of  treatment  in  connec- 
tion with  the  patient's  troubles. 

REMEDL\L   MENTAL   HYGIEXE 

The  case  is  definitely  made  out  that 
the  troubles  of  the  parents  are  visited 
upon  the  children  and  grandchildren. 
When  Jack  called  his  sister  "A  dirty 
thing"  his  father,  a  physician,  pun- 


ished him  by  making  him  repeat  the 
remark  aloud  for  two  straight  hours. 
The  physician  admitted  that  he  hated 
his  own  father  for  this  method  of 
punishment,  which  would  last  for  an 
entire  day  in  the  woodshed.  The 
father  had  behevcd  that  it  was  effica- 
cious until  it  was  pointed  out  that  the 
undesirable  phrase  was  obviously  being 
most  indelibly  impressed  rather  than 
being  expelled  from  the  child's  lan- 
guage behavior.  We  also  find  psy- 
chological and  social  maladjustments 
affecting  physical  health,  and  vice 
versa.  A  recent  study"  in  which  the 
speaker  collaborated  showed  that  in 
about  9  cases  out  of  10  home  influences 
were  deleterious  contributing  factors, 
in  personal  and  social  impedunents 
and  in  delinquency.  Studies  in  other 
fields  dealing  with  childhood  problems 
are  piling  up  more  and  more  evidence 
showing  the  strategic  position  that 
the  home  holds  in  the  development  of 
character  and  morale.  And  when  a 
child  with  puzzling  misconduct  comes 
from  a  home  presenting  warping 
discipline  and  conditions,  it  is  no  easy 
matter  to  say  just  what  you  have  to 
work  with  in  him,  how  readily  he  may 
be  cured,  and  to  what  extent  his 
antisocial  proclivities  may  be  a  natural 
escape  from  an  unbearable  environ- 
ment. 

Take  the  type  of  misconduct,  for 
instance,  that  shows  itself  in  stealing. 
First,  stealing  may  be  due  to  physical 
diseases  or  defects;  glandular  imbal- 

"  Paynter,  R.  H.,  and  Blanchard, 
Phyllis.  The  Educational  Achievement  of 
Children  with  Personality  and  Behavior 
Difficulties.  Joint  Committee  on  Methods 
of  Preventing  Delinquency,  1927. 


Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  AYork 


293 


ance  may  induce  stealing  for  more 
sweets  than  are  being  provided  at 
meals.  Encephalitis  lethargica  makes 
one  boy  steal  even  from  the  clinic 
which  wants  to  help  him.  Mental 
diseases  and  defects  have  a  number  of 
contributing  causes.  Bad  compan- 
ions lead  another  boy  to  rob  the 
ship's  stores  at  the  dock.  Lack  of 
recreational  facilities  have  forced  boys 
off  crowded  streets  into  the  quiet 
recesses  of  vacant  houses  where  too 
frequently  they  have  come  face  to  face 
with  lead  pipe  and  other  salable  fix- 
tures inviting  theft.  Lack  of  courage 
to  face  his  schoolmates'  ridicule  over 
spelling  mistakes  impels  Billy  to 
truancy,  and  then  pilfering  to  get 
food  rather  than  to  go  home  to  a 
whipping.  How  stealing  may  be  an 
outlet  for  suppressed  sex  tendencies, 
Healy  has  shown  in  interesting  studies. 
Clumsy  John  steals  to  treat  his  com- 
panions and  thereby  secure  their 
respect. 

Home  training,  severe,  lax,  indul- 
gent, in  general  discipline  or  in 
special  attempt  to  control  stealing, 
may  increase  disregard  for  the 
property  rights  of  others.  Some  chil- 
dren just  imitate  the  criminal  careers 
of  their  relatives,  or  are  even  urged 
by  them  to  go  out  foraging.  One  boy 
stole  to  supplement  his  newspaper 
earnings  so  that  the  folks  would  not 
complain.  Lastly  Jack  ran  away  from 
home  and  began  stealing  to  keep  from 
starving.  Seeing  his  mother  being 
caressed  by  a  suitor,  devotion  to  the 
memory  of  his  father  made  home 
uninhabitable. 

We  have  listed  enough  of  the  major 
internal  and  external  stimuli  of  just 


one  misbehavior  manifestation  to  show 
the  existence  of  multiple  causation. 
Since  most  cases  of  stealing  are  accom- 
panied by  one  or  more  overt  malad- 
justments, which  have  their  own 
systems  of  cause  and  effect,  their 
relations  become  intricate.  No  two 
cases  are  identical  in  root  causes  and 
in  circumstances.  In  treatment,  how- 
ever, there  must  be  differentiation  not 
only  as  regards  the  individual's  liabili- 
ties but  also  as  regards  his  assets. 
Furthermore,  the  strength  of  an  abiUty 
in  reading  for  instance  may  be  utilized 
to  carry  along  in  its  stream  of  activity 
many  sorts  of  deficiencies.  All  known 
methods  of  reeducation  may  fail  to 
eliminate  a  feeling  of  jealousy  in  one 
individual  towards  a  sister  or  brother, 
whereas  one  brief  talk  may  be  all 
that  is  necessary  to  improve  a  whole 
family's  outlook  on  life.  Then  again, 
all  sorts  of  analyses  may  fail  to  explain 
how  another  satisfactory  adjustment 
of  a  conduct  disorder  was  effected. 

There  are  those  individuals  who 
have  been  given  much  mental  and 
social  reUef,  only  to  refuse  later  to 
have  anything  whatever  to  do  wdth 
the  cUnic,  through  a  suspicious  fear  of 
being  considered  abnormal.  "WTien  I 
reflect  on  the  millions  of  careers  that 
have  been  damaged  by  the  widespread 
effects  of  one  incorrect  notion,  a 
sHghtly  twisted  attitude,  or  the  false 
motivation  of  a  healthy  drive  the 
proverbial  blindness  of  the  lover 
seems  almost  universal.  The  behavior 
of  problem  children  is  not  so  serious  a 
cause  for  alarm  when  we  consider  the 
background  of  trying  conditions  that 
confront  them  in  the  home.  We  can 
usually    see    the    mental    ghosts    of 


294  Paynter:  Clinical  Psychologist  at  Work 

problem    parents   and   even    problem  attain  morale,   the   supreme   goal  of 

^andparents  behind  them.  mental  hygiene    may  we  not  add  to 

You    have    heard    th°,    command,  these  commands,  keep  always  m  the 

"Physician,  heal  thyself,"  and  perhaps  pink  of  condition. 

"Psychologist,  improve  thyself."     To  {Manuscript  received  July  25,  1927.) 


The  Paris  Congress  of  Technopsychology 

Fourth  International  Conference  of  Technopsychology^ 

Applied  to  Vocational  Guidance  and  to  Scientific 

Management,  October  10-14,  1927 

By  W.  V.  Bingham,  Personnel  Research  Federation 


THE  International  Institute  of 
Intellectual  Cooperation  of  the 
League  of  Nations  was  host  to 
the  recent  Paris  congress  of  techno- 
psychologists.  In  its  sumptuous  quar- 
ters in  the  Palais-Royal,  psychologists 
from  22  countries  met  from  the  tenth 
to  the  fourteenth  of  October,  1927,  to 
consider  the  applications  of  their  sci- 
ence to  vocational  guidance  and  to 
scientific  management. 

"It  is  most  important  to  know  how 
best  to  make  use  of  human  energy  and 
individuality  from  the  time  of  leaving 
school,  on,"  said  Dr.  Toulouse,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Committee  of  Organization, 
in  opening  the  congress.  He  sketched 
the  history  of  technopsychology  from 
the  pioneer  investigations  of  Galton, 
Cattell,  Kraepelin  and  Binet;  referred 
to  his  own  method  of  study  of  the 
whole  individual  as  illustrated  in  his 
monograph  on  Zola  (1895) ;  mentioned 
the   experimental    pedagogy   of   Cla- 

^  The  French  term  psychotechnique  is 
variously  rendered  in  English  as  psycho- 
technology and  technopsychology .  The  wri- 
ter's personal  preference  is  for  the  latter 
form.  The  other  term,  "psychotechnol- 
ogy," suggests  rather  the  technique  of 
thinking  or  the  science  of  mental  control. 


parede;  and  finally  the  initiation  by 
Lahy  in  1904  of  the  technopsychology 
of  work,  established  on  a  foundation  of 
experiment  and  measurement.  The 
aim  of  the  technopsychological  labora- 
tory is  to  determine  the  value  of  the 
individual  and  where  he  will  count  for 
most.  His  physical  value  has  long 
been  appraised,  but  not  his  psychologi- 
cal value.  Eventually  society  will 
be  ruled  by  a  biocracy — the  science  of 
life. 

Nearly  120  papers  were  submitted. 
Of  these  scarcely  a  third  were  selected 
for  presentation.  Even  so,  some  of 
the  sessions  seemed  congested  because 
the  topics  provoked  vigorous  contro- 
versy which  had  to  be  cut  short.  If 
the  management  had  hoped  for  a  rela- 
tively small,  informal,  intimate  con- 
ference, it  had  not  reckoned  sufficiently 
with  the  substantial  growth  of  the 
science  since  the  war,  nor  with  the 
intense  seriousness  with  which  many 
technopsychologists  are  pursuing  their 
ideal — namely,  the  improvement  of 
the  well-being  of  multitudes  of  those 
who  labor,  through  the  application  of 
a  rigorously  scientific  psychology  to 
their  problems  of  industrial  and  voca- 
tional adjustment. 


295 


296 


Bingham  :  Paris  Congress  of  Technopsychology 


This  earnestness,  this  intensity  of 
belief  in  science  as  a  means  of  human 
betterment,  seemed  to  be  most  strik- 
ingly characteristic  of  the  delegation 
from  eastern  Europe,  notably  the 
Czechoslovaks,  Poles,  and  Russians. 
(There  was  a  much  larger  representa- 
tion of  Russian-speaking  psychologists 
than  of  English  and  Americans.) 
These  men  gave  the  impression  of 
knowing  labor  and  industry  intimately. 
They  also  knew  their  Thorndike,  their 
Kelley,  their  Frederick  W.  Tajdor, 
more  thoroughly  than  most  American 
psychologists  know  the  recent  con- 
tributions of  Rossohmo,  Bechterew, 
Spilrein  and  Mandrika.  Nor  are  they 
embarrassed,  as  some  Americans  seem 
to  have  been,  by  a  traditional  limita- 
tion of  the  zones  of  inquiry  appropriate 
to  the  management  engineer  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  the  technopsy- 
chologist  on  the  other.  No  problem 
of  human  adjustment  in  education  or 
industr)'^  is  remote  from  their  interest, 
if  only  they  can  see  it  as  amenable  to 
attack  by  the  methods  of  scientific 
psychology.  This  science  more  than 
any  other  they  conceive  as  serving 
immediate  social  ends. 

The  researches  reported  conse- 
quently ranged  over  a  wide  area. 
They  included  experimental  studies  of 
fatigue  en  flagrant  in  stevedores  (Pa- 
trizi,  Bologna),  the  psychology'  of  the 
foundryman's  task  (Rupp,  Berlin), 
aptitudes  for  surgery,  orthopedics 
and  dentistry  (Marbe,  Wiirzbarg), 
technique  of  illumination  (Ruffer, 
Berlin,  and  Giese,  Stuttgart) ,  and  men- 
tal effects  of  mechanization  in  industry 
(Donaggio,  Modena). 

Fundamental  questions  of  method 
were   argued   by   Germans,    Italians, 


Spaniards  and  Swiss.  The  value  and 
limitations  of  statistical  techniques 
were  stressed,  particularly  by  French 
and  Russians  (Danois,  Pieron,  Man- 
drika). Nothing  is  more  dangerous, 
they  urged,  than  to  rely  on  common 
sense,  or  on  mathematics  divorced 
from  common  sense.  We  must  merit 
the  respect  of  our  colleagues  of  the 
mathematical  and  exact  sciences. 
This  requires  greater  attention  to  pre- 
cise measures  of  variability,  and  less 
uncritical  use  of  tests  and  scales  con- 
structed with  provisional  units  whose 
equivalence  is  assumed  and  whose 
distance  has  not  been  determined  from 
an  absolute  zero. 

American  contributions  to  this  ses- 
sion included  an  exhibit  of  correlation 
charts  sent  by  F.  L.  Wells,  and  a  paper 
by  the  writer  on  "Neglected  Methods 
in  Emplo>anent  Psychology,"  illustrat- 
ing the  uses  of  statistical  evaluation  of 
data  obtained  on  the  application  form, 
on  interest  questionnaires,  in  the  medi- 
cal examination  and  in  personal  inter- 
view. 

A  notable  address  by  Otto  Lipmann 
of  Berlin,  founder  of  the  first  institute 
of  applied  psychology  in  Germany,  on 
"The  Worker's  Contribution  to  Qual- 
ity and  Quantity  of  Output :  A  Sketch 
of  a  System  of  Technopsychology," 
will  be  published  in  full  in  this 
Journal. 

A  session  devoted  to  mental  tests 
brought  forward  several  substantial 
contributions  and  the  usual  proportion 
of  novel  devices.  For  example,  a 
new  apparatus  for  measuring  dis- 
persed attention  was  described  by 
G.  Forster  of  Prague.  H.  Henning  of 
Dantzig — where  Munsterberg  first  be- 
gan his  work  on  tests — announced  a 


Bingham  :  Paris  Congress  of  Technopsychology  297 


set  of  thirty  character  tests  involving 
new  apparatus  and  the  method  of 
two  persons  who  work  at  the  apparatus 
together  in  ways  which  necessarily 
either  facilitate  or  hamper  each  other — 
intriguing  suggestions  which,  though 
promising,  have  not  yet  been  ade- 
quately validated.  Henning  con- 
tented that  additive  tests  of  personality 
are  misleading.  A  personality  test 
must  be  sui  generis. 

W.  Stern  (Hamburg),  in  similar 
vein,  maintained  that  test  analysis  of 
the  elements  of  emotion  leads  the  in- 
vestigator away  from  the  essence  of 
the  personality.  Monotony  is  a  per- 
sonality problem;  and  the  mechanistic 
test  trend  so  strong  among  the  younger 
German  technopsychologists  must 
change  to  a  psychology  of  the  whole 
personality. 

One  heard  again  the  familiar  en- 
thusiasms for  the  new,  the  familiar 
cautions  against  over-hasty  reliance 
on  the  new.  Tests  of  intelligence, 
practical  as  well  as  verbal,  were  de- 
scribed, together  with  measures  of 
attention,  of  educability,  and  of  apti- 
tude; and  correlations  were  reported 
between  these  tests  and  various  cri- 
teria including  the  Army  Alpha  scale ! 
Nine  years  after  the  war,  our  Army 
mental  tests  seemed  to  be  quite  at 
home  in  their  French,  Czechish  and 
Dutch  translations.  The  necessity  of 
careful  re-calibration  of  these  and 
other  tests  after  translation,  particu- 
larly with  reference  to  the  evaluation 
of  errors,  was  emphasized  by  J.  L. 
Prak  of  the  Philips  Lamp  Works, 
Eindhoven,  Holland. 

At  a  session  devoted  to  Vocational 
Selection,  Miss  W.  Spielman  of  the 
British  National  Institute  of  Industrial 


Psychology,  spoke  in  the  place  of  Dr. 
Myers — unfortunately  detained  by  ill- 
ness— on  "Some  Guiding  Principles." 
She  maintained,  first,  that  employ- 
ment tests  should  be  devised  for  a 
special  firm  rather  than  for  the  occu- 
pation, since  jobs  apparently  the  same 
in  different  plants  really  differ  be- 
cause of  different  stress  on  speed  or 
quality,  difference  in  emphasis  on 
foreman-responsibility  versus  worker- 
responsibility,  differences  in  employ- 
ment conditions,  etc.  Second,  a  group 
of  simple  tests  based  on  analysis  is 
usually  better  than  sample  tests  based 
on  analogy.  In  typing,  for  example, 
it  is  better  to  measure  speed  and  accu- 
racy in  separate  tests,  the  candidate 
learning  and  then  repeating  over  and 
over  a  familiar  line  as  a  test  of  speed, 
later  being  tested  for  accuracy  with 
very  difficult  copy.  Third,  the  tests 
must  be  adapted  to  business  use. 
They  must  be  economical  of  time, 
sturdy  in  construction,  and  so  framed 
that  they  can  be  reliably  adminis- 
tered by  a  non-psychologist.  Fourth, 
the  views  of  the  workers  are  to  be  con- 
sidered. They  should  be  informed  in 
advance  regarding  the  investigation, 
and  guaranteed  secrecy  of  results  dur- 
ing its  experimental  stage.  They  pre- 
fer to  have  the  employment  tests  called 
a  "technical  trial"  or  an  "entrance 
interview"  rather  than  a  "psychologi- 
cal examination."  They  accept 
simply-constructed  tests  having  an 
apparent  appropriateness  to  the  jobs, 
while  they  resent  elaborate  brass  in- 
struments and  electrical  equipment. 
Fifth,  selection  tests  must  be  supple- 
mented by  standardized  interviews; 
and  it  is  advisable  to  train  the  tester 
to  be  interviewer  as  well. 


298  Bingham:  Paris  Congress  of  Technopsychology 


E.  Mira  (Barcelona),  showed  the 
need  of  comparing  not  only  the  success- 
ful with  the  less  successful  workers  in 
an  occupation,  but  also  of  comparing 
the  workers  with  an  adequate  general 
sample  of  the  population. 

Other  contributions  at  this  session 
were  those  of  Fr.  Seracky  of  Prague, 
on  "Psychologial  Selection  of  Stu- 
dents for  the  Conservatory  of  Music;" 
Miss  Eng  of  Oslo,  on  "Tests  of  Apti- 
tude for  Apprentices;"  Toltchinsky  of 
Moscow,  on  "Group  Tests  of  Motor 
Aptitudes;"  and  Levitof,  also  of  Mos- 
cow, on  "An  Attempt  to  Apply  Group 
Tests  for  Distribution  of  Apprentices," 
reporting  extensive  results  with  many 
kinds  of  tests. 

Selection  of  employees  in  the  field 
of  transportation — motormen,  bus 
operators,  locomotive  engineers,  pilots, 
aviators — required  an  entire  session, 
which  was  held  in  the  technopsycho- 
logical  laboratory  at  the  carbarns 
of  the  Paris  Tramway  System. 
Thanks  to  Professor  Lahy,  Director 
of  this  laboratory,  the  delegates  were 
permitted  to  see  the  entire  equipment 
used  in  the  examination  of  candidates 
for  employment  in  the  transport  ser- 
vice. This  equipment  which  has  been 
newty  and  fully  described  in  a  recent 
volume,^  includes  tests  for  visual 
estimation  of  relative  speed  of  mo\ang 
objects,  motor  suggestibility,  fatig- 
ability, reaction-time,  discrimination- 
reaction  and  susceptibility  to  distrac- 
tion (diffused  attention) ,  and  emotivity 
as  indicated  by  the  psychogalvanic 
reflex.     Booths  for  group  administra- 

2  J.  M.  Lahy  :  La  selection  psychophysio- 
logique  des  travailleurs — conducteurs  de 
tramwaj's  et  d'autobus.  Paris,  Dunod, 
1927,  Pp.  xiii  +  240. 


tion  of  paper-and-pencil  tests  are  pro- 
vided. There  is  also  equipment  similar 
to  the  street-car  controls,  used  in 
testing  the  practiced  operator  who 
is  required  to  manipulate  the  power 
and  brakes  appropriately  as  he  ob- 
serves a  motion-picture  of  a  com- 
plicated street  scene  taken  from  the 
front  of  a  rapidly  moving  street-car. 
The  principles  underlying  these  vari- 
ous examinations  were  explained  and 
their  effectiveness  in  reducing  acci- 
dents described.  It  was  an  impressive 
demonstration  of  the  value  of  techno- 
psychology in  the  service  of  business 
economy,  individual  satisfaction  and 
public  welfare. 

At  this  session,  the  necessity  of  indi- 
vidual study  and  treatment  of  experi- 
enced motormen  whose  records  reveal 
a  proneness  to  accidents,  was  il- 
lustrated from  investigations  made  by 
the  staff  of  the  Personnel  Research 
Federation  on  behalf  of  the  Boston 
Elevated  Railway.  Interest  in  the 
whole  subject  of  the  psychological 
study  of  accidents,  their  causation  and 
prevention,  was  so  keen  that  this  field 
of  research  was  selected  as  one  of  the 
major  topics  for  the  next  congress. 

Vana,  who  has  been  studying  the 
selection  of  motormen  in  Prague, 
finds  that  intelHgence  score  as  meas- 
ured by  Army  Alpha  gives  a  better 
prediction  of  success  and  stability  than 
all  other  tests  combined,  although 
these  include  measures  of  distributive 
attention,  dynamometer  tests  and 
several  others.  Applicants  var}'"  in 
Army  Alpha  score  from  6  to  175,  with 
a  median  of  75  which  is  equivalent  to 
an  intelligence  quotient  of  94.  The 
preferred  range  for  motormen  in 
Prague  is  from  86  to  94  I.Q.     Below 


Bingham  :  Paris  Congress  of  Technopsychology 


299 


this  zone,  they  learn  slowly  and  have 
more  accidents.  Above  it,  they  tend 
to  leave  the  service  for  other  employ- 
ment before  becoming  competent 
operators. 

Vocational  guidance — or  orienta- 
tion, to  use  the  European  term — was 
splendidly  exemplified  in  the  contribu- 
tions of  A.  G.  Christiaens  and  O. 
Decroly  of  Brussels,  where  perhaps 
the  most  adequate  and  well-con- 
sidered measures  for  individual  study, 
counselling  and  placement  of  school 
children  are  to  be  found.  But,  judg- 
ing by  the  papers  on  the  program, 
Madrid,  Budapest,  Prague,  Lisbon, 
Luxemburg,  Paris,  Bremen  and 
Hanover  all  have  significant  additions 
to  make  to  the  study  of  the  occupa- 
tions, the  determination  of  aptitudes 
and  the  adjustment  of  young  people  to 
their  vocational  opportunities. 

Two  major  topics  received  relatively 
less  prominence  at  this  conference  than 
they  would  have  had  in  a  gathering  of 
American  psychologists :  Technopsy- 
chology and  the  School,  and  Techno- 
psychology and  Mental  Hygiene  (in- 
cluding study  of  the  feeble-minded  as 
well  as  of  the  emotionally  unstable.) 
Special  mention  should,  however,  be 
made  of  a  notable  address  by  Dr. 
Toulouse  on  the  relation  of  psycho- 
technique  and  psychiatry. 

Under  "Organization  of  Techno- 
psychology" were  grouped  half  a  dozen 
papers  which,  however,  were  not  given, 
except  one  by  D.  R.  Wilson,  Secretary 
of  the  Industrial  Fatigue  Research 
Board,  London,  on  "International  Co- 
operation in  Research."  The  speaker 
pointed  to  the  possibility  of  securing 
definitive  answers  to  crucial  questions 
as  to  illumination,  ventilation,  opti- 


mum length  of  working  day,  rest 
pauses,  and  the  like,  if  studies  in  differ- 
ent countries  where  so  many  of  the 
complicating  variables  differ  greatly, 
nevertheless  point  to  the  same  con- 
clusions. Mr.  Wilson  was  asked  by 
the  Congress  to  head  a  permanent 
committee  on  International  Research 
on  the  Influence  of  the  Material  En- 
vironment on  the  Worker. 

Other  permanent  international  com- 
mittees were  established,  as  follows: 

Technopsychological  Study  of  Accidents, 
Professor  K.  Marbe,  Wiirzburg,  Chair- 
man 

Influence  of  the  Worker's  Effort  on  Out- 
put, Dr.  O.  Lipmann,  Berlin,  Chairman 

The  Problem  of  Educability,  Professor 
Ed.  Claparede,  Geneva,  Chairman 

Practical  Measures  for  Establishing  a  Col- 
lection of  all  Tests,  with  Description, 
Norms  and  Results,  Professor  H.  Pieron, 
Paris,  Chairman 

Unification  of  Technopsychological  Vo- 
cabulary, Mme.  F.  Baumgarten- 
Tramer,  Soleure,  Switzerland,  Chair- 
man 

These  committees  are  charged  to 
present  reports  of  their  activities  at 
the  next  international  conference 
which  will  be  held  in  Holland  in  1928. 

Lively  concern  was  expressed  with 
reference  to  the  dangers  of  commercial- 
ism, charlatanism  and  dilletantism 
within  the  domain  of  vocational  guid- 
ance and  the  technopsychological  as- 
pects of  scientific  management .  Some- 
flagrant  European  imposters  were 
mentioned  by  name,  but  no  formal 
action  was  voted. 

Social  functions  included  a  tea  at 
the  Palais-Royal  given  by  the  Inter- 
national Institute  of  Intellectual  Co- 
operation, a  gorgeous  afternoon  re- 
ception at  the  Hotel  de  ^'ille  by  the 


300 


Bingham  :  Paris  Congress  of  Technopsychology 


Prefect  of  the  Department  of  the  Seine 
and  the  Mayor  of  Paris,  a  formal 
evening  reception  at  the  Sorbonne,  a 
motor-trip  to  \'ersailles,  with  re- 
freshments at  the  Trianon-Palace  Ho- 
tel, and  an  evening  at  the  Opera. 

The  association  of  technopsycholo- 
gists  which  organized  this  congress  has 
the  name,  "International  Conferences 
of  Technopsychology  Apphed  to  Voca- 
tional Guidance  and  to  Scientific  Man- 
agement." Professor  Claparede  who 
has  been  its  President,  was  referred  to 
as  its  originator,  but  he  disclaims  this 
honor,  giving  it  to  Dr.  Pierre  Bovet 
and  the  J.  J.  Rousseau  Institute,  under 
whose  sponsorship  the  fii'st  inter- 
national conference  convened  in 
Geneva  in  1920.  Since  that  time,  con- 
gresses have  been  held  in  Barcelona 
and  in  Milan.  The  organization  has 
a  Board  of  Directors  representative 
of  the  leading  participating  national 
groups,  and  a  continuing  Secretarj- 
General,  J.  M.  Lahy  of  the  University 
of  Paris.  The  President  for  the  period 
of  this  congress  and  until  the  conven- 
ing of  the  next  one  is  Dr.  Ed.  Toulouse. 
The  Board  of  Directors  is  listed  below. 
A  second  representative  from  the 
United  States  is  to  be  elected  on  the 
recommendation  of  American  techno- 
psychologists. 

During  the  past  j^ear  another  group 
of  psychologists  became  very  active 
in  international  exchange  of  informa- 
tion regarding  practical  applications 
of  psychology.  The  geographical  cen- 
ter of  this  group  lay  to  the  eastward. 
Its  secretarj^  and  most  enthusiastic 
promotor  was  Dr.  M.  Moller  of  Piiga, 
Latvia.  Its  membership  included 
many  of  the  younger  and  more  aggres- 
sive  psychologists,    particularly   east 


of  the  Rhine.  They  proposed  to  or- 
ganize at  Paris  a  new  International 
Association  for  Psychology  and  Tech- 
nopsychology which  would  not  merely 
hold  congresses,  but  would  be  a  live 
organization  at  all  times.  Fortu- 
nately a  complete  and  amicable  fusion 
of  the  two  movements  was  brought 
about:  the  older  organization  virtu- 
ally absorbed  the  younger,  and  with 
it  acquired  a  fresh  vitality.  Through 
the  work  of  its  newly  appointed  inter- 
national committees,  it  will  be  a  de- 
cidedly active  organization  between 
congresses;  and,  in  addition,  the  Secre- 
tary-General has  designated  Dr.  Mol- 
ler to  develop  at  Riga  an  international 
center  for  the  exchange  of  research 
information.  So,  with  a  single  or- 
ganization, the  work  of  the  two  groups 
will  go  forward  harmoniously. 

The  next  international  conference 
will  differ  from  this  one  in  its  restric- 
tion of  the  range  of  topics  to  be  con- 
sidered. The  discussions  will  center 
chiefly  about  three  problems:  Educa- 
hility,  Temperament  and  Character,  and 
Causes  of  Accidents.  The  Direction 
announces  that  contributions  must  be 
received  two  months  in  advance  in 
order  that  those  accepted  for  presenta- 
tion may  be  printed  before  the  con- 
gress assembles.  The  precise  date  has 
not  been  determined,  but  it  will  be 
in  September  or  October,  1928,  in 
Utrecht.  Much  is  being  accomplished 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada  in 
the  psychological  study  of  accidents,  of 
educability,  and  of  temperament  and 
character,  which  should  be  assembled 
for  the  information  and  the  criticism 
of  our  foreign  colleagues  at  this  time. 
To  bring  this  material  to  them  it  is 
hoped  that  several  psychologists  from 


Bingham  :  Paris  Congress  of  Technopsy chology 


301 


America  may  participate  in  the  Utrecht 
Congress,  and  may  have  the  privilege 
of  personal  contact  with  the  distin- 
guished European  scientists  who  are 
known  for  the  most  part  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic  only  through  their 
publications. 

Technopsychology  in  America  can- 
not fail  to  profit  by  such  contacts. 
In  spite  of  our  leadership  in  certain 
directions,  we  have  fallen  behind  some 
of  our  European  associates  in  others, 
particularly  in  industrial  studies  and 
in  scientific  vocational  guidance.  We 
believe  in  psychology  and  the  useful- 
ness of  its  applications,  but  at  times 
not  very  courageously,  and  it  is  then 
inspiring  to  meet  face  to  face  so  many 
men  of  wdsdom  and  major  calibre 
who  are  accomplishing  through  their 
science  large  services  for  industry  and 
for  society.  We  become  more  firmly 
convinced  that  the  scientific  study  of 
individuals,  rigorously  and  consistently 
applied  to  current  problems  of  this 
machine  age,  will  make  for  increased 
individual  satisfactions,  less  fatigue 
and  nervousness  and  anxiety,  greater 
material  prosperity  and  a  more  whole- 
some national  life. 

BOARD    OF    DIRECTORS 

Of  the  Association  of  International  Con- 
ferences of  Technopsychology  Applied 
to  Vocational  Guidance  and  to  Scientific 
Management 

Dr.  F.  Baijmgaeten-Tramer,  Soleure, 
Switzerland 

Dr.  W.  V.  Bingham,  Director  of  the  Person- 
nel Research  Federation  and  President 
of  the  Psychological  Corporation,  New 
York 

A.  G.  Christiaen.s,  Director  of  the  Inter- 
communal  Bureau  of  Vocational  Guidance 
for  the  Brussels  District 


Professor  Ed.  Claparede,  University  of 
Greneva 

Dr.  CoRBEBi,  Director  of  the  Hospital  of 
Montbello,  near  Milan 

Professor  O.  Decroly,  University  of  Brus- 
sels 

Professor  G.  C.  Ferrari,  University  of 
Bologna 

Dr.  A.  A.  Gruxbaum,  University  of 
Amsterdam 

Mile.  J.  JoTEYKO,  Professor  of  Physiology 
in  the  University  of  Warsaw 

J.  M.  Lahy,  Director  of  the  Laboratory  of 
Applied  Psj^chology  in  the  Ecole  pratique 
des  Hautes  Etudes,  and  in  the  Psychol- 
ogical Institute  of  the  University  of  Paris 

Dr.  O.  LiPMANN,  Director  of  the  Institute 
for  Applied   Psychology,    Berlin 

Dr.  G.  H.  Miles,  Associate  Director  of  the 
National  Institute  of  Industrial  Psychol- 
ogy, London 

E.  MiRA,  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Voca- 
tional Guidance,  Barcelona 

Professor  W.  Moede,  Technical  High 
School,  Berlin — Charlottenburg 

Dr.  C.  S.  Myers,  Director  of  the  National 
Institute  of  Industrial  Psychology, 
London 

Professor  H.  Pi^eron,  College  of  France  and 
Institute  of  Psychology  in  the  University 
of  Paris,  Director  of  the  Laboratory  of 
Physiological  Psychology  at  the  Sor- 
bonne 

Professor  E.  Roels,  University  of  Utrecht 

Professor  G.  Rossolimo,  University  of 
Moscow 

Professor  I.  Spilrein,  Head  of  the  Tech- 
nopsychological  Laboratory  of  the  Insti- 
tute for  the  Protection  of  Labor,  Moscow 

J.  Wojciechowski,  Director  of  the  Techno- 
psychological  Institute  of  the  Construc- 
tion School,  and  of  the  Bureau  of  Tech- 
nopsychological  Tests  of  the  Warsaw 
Railway 

Secretary-General:  J.  M.  Lahy,  University 
of  Paris 

President  (until  the  next  congress) :  Dr.  Ed. 
Tottlouse,  Director  of  the  Henri  Rous- 
selle  Hospital,  Director  of  the  Institute  of 
Psychiatry  and  Mental  Hygiene  in  the 
Ecole  des  Hautes  Etudes,  Paris 


Book  Reviews 


TYPES  OF  MIND  AND  BODY 

By  E.  Miller.    New  York:  W.  W.  Norton  and  Company, 
1927.     Pp.  95 

Reviewed  by  F.  L.  Wells 


This  little  volume  is  at  its  best,  and  very 
good,  for  the  first  six  or  seven  pages,  where 
the  author  is  "on  his  own"  and  is  discussing 
the  general  philosophy  of  human  types. 
With  compiling  and  particularizing,  diffi- 
culties begin.  The  author  appears  to  know 
his  stuff,  but  it  suffers  in  the  telling.  To 
deal  adequately  with  a  topic  like  this  within 
the  given  compass  requires  a  great  deal  of 
systematic  condensation.  This  sort  of 
thing  can  be  done  and  done  well,  but  it 
means  work,  and  the  Germans  seem  to  be 
the  only  people  who  will  take  the  trouble 
(Samnilung  Goschen).  One  will  find  sketchy 
accounts  here  of  Kretschmer,  Klaatsch, 
MacAuliffe,  Crookshank  and  others,  read- 
able and  at  times  amusing,  but  not  a  great 


deal  more.  There  are  whimsicalities  of 
style  that  might  have  entered  via  transla- 
tion; one  particularly  for  which  the  authori- 
ties probably  share  responsibility  with  the 
author,  is  subjectivity  in  anatomical  de- 
scriptions. The  pyknic  neck  is  "pleasingly 
modelled;"  the  asthenic  shoulders  have  the 
bend  of  "shy  inferiority;"  the  male  genitals 
of  this  type  are  "lacking  in  expression." 
It  sounds  like  an  echo  of  the  doctrine  of 
signatures  to  say  that  thyroid  sensitizes 
sjTnpathetic  nerve  endings,  and  thus  pro- 
duces greater  rapport  with  the  external 
world  (p.  44).  Another  picturesque  bit  of 
symbolism  is  the  use  of  "hydrophylly" 
(MacAuliffe)  to  designate  a  water-absorbing 
physiology  (p.  30). 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  SALESMANSHIP 

By  Charles  C.  Knights.     London:  Sir  Isaac  Pitman  and 
Sons,  Ltd.,  1927.     Pp.  249 

Reviewed  by  0.  R.  Johnson 


Mr.  Knights  is  a  clear  thinker,  and  a 
writer  of  lucid  English.  But  he  has  nothing 
new,  and  little  of  importance,  to  say.  The 
technique  of  salesmanship  would  seem  to  be 
most  easily  demonstrated  by  sales  inci- 
dents and  illustrations,  but  of  these  there 
are  scarcely  any  in  his  book.  There  is  no 
reflection  anywhere  in  it  of  the  vitality, 
warmth,  and  humor  of  flesh-and-blood 
selling.  This  is  a  book  that  might  con- 
ceivably have  been  written  by  an  intelligent 


man  who  had  never  gotten  any  closer  to  the 
salesman  on  the  road  than  to  peer  from  a 
warm  Pullman  berth  at  5:45  a.m.  only  to 
thank  God  that  he  did  not  have  to  catch 
the  first — and  only — morning  train  into 
Hadleyburg. 

Psychologists  will  be  interested  to  learn 
that  Mr.  Knights  advocates  the  use  of 
"scientific  phrenology"  in  deciding  what 
approach  to  make  to  the  prospect.  He 
divides  mankind  into  three  familiar  types: 


302 


Book  Reviews 


303 


Motive,  Vital,  and  Mental.  "The  Motive 
type,"  he  saj's,  "can  be  recognized  by  the 
characteristic  of  squareness.  He  is  square- 
featured      and      square-framed.    ...   As 


might  be  expected,  this  Motive  tj'pe  likes 
everything  to  be  'fair  and  square' .... 
In  dealing  with  him,  transparent  honesty 
of  purpose  is  demanded  of  the  salesman." 


THE  ABILITIES  OF  MAN 

By    C.    Spearman.     New    York:  The    MacmiUan    Company, 
1927.     Pp.  211^. 

Reviewed  by  Gael  C.  Brigham 


Professor  Spearman  attacks  the  army  of 
mental  testers  at  its  most  vulnerable  point 
— well  to  the  rear  of  the  front  line — at  the 
headquarters  of  its  general  staff.  The  first 
attack  was  launched  in  1923,'  and  proved 
ineffective — at  least,  in  those  sectors  occu- 
pied by  American  troops.  The  second 
attack,  using  shells  loaded  with  the  results 
of  actual  investigations,  is  more  shrewdly 
planned  to  produce  results. 

The  indifference  which  Professor  Spear- 
man's first  book  met  in  this  country  is  diffi- 
cult to  understand.  Few  people  have 
talked  about  it,  almost  no  one  has  written 
about  it.  Professor  Thorndike,  the  recog- 
nized leader  of  the  movement  here,  in  his 
latest  book^  discusses  Professor  Spearman's 
theory  of  cognition  as  follows : 

"Spearman  has  argued  that  intellect  equals 
the  apprehension  of  experience,  the  educa- 
tion of  relations  and  the  education  of  corre- 
lates. The  two  processes  are  defined  as 
follows:  'The  mentally  presenting  of  any 
two  or  more  characters  (simple  or  complex) 
tends  to  evoke  immediately  a  knowing  of 
relation  between  them'  (p.  63).  'The  pre- 
senting of  any  character  together  with  any 
relation  tends  to  evoke  immediately  a 
knowing  of  the  correlative  character'  (p.  91). 

"There  is  no  doubt  that  the  appreciation 
and   management    of    relations    is    a   very 

^"The  Nature  of  'Intelligence'  and  the 
Principles  of  Cognition,"  by  C.  Spearman, 
New  York,  MacMillan,  1923,  pp.  358. 

2"The  Measurement  of  Intelligence,"  by 
E.  L.  Thorndike,  E.  O.  Bregman,  M.  V. 
Cobb,  Ella  Woodyard,  and  others,  New 
York,  Teachers  College,  1923,  pp.  616. 


important  feature  of  intellect,  by  any 
reasonable  definition  thereof.  Yet  it  seems 
hazardous  and  undesirable  to  assume  that 
the  perception  and  use  of  relations  is  all  of 
intellect.  In  practice,  tests  in  paragraph 
reading,  in  information,  and  in  range  of 
vocabulary,  seem  to  signify  intellect  almost 
as  well  as  the  opposites  and  mixed  relations 
tests.  In  theory,  analysis  (thinking  things 
into  their  elements),  selection  (choosing  the 
suitable  elements  or  aspects  or  relations), 
and  organizing  (managing  many  associative 
trends  so  that  each  is  given  due  weight  in 
view  of  the  purpose  of  one's  thought),  seem 
to  be  as  deserving  of  consideration  as  the 
perception  and  use  of  relations.  Moreover, 
I  fear  that,  in  all  four  cases,  we  need  other 
valuations  to  decide  which  are  the  better 
relations  or  more  abstract  relations,  or  the 
7nore  essential  elements  or  the  more  sagacious 
selection,  or  the  more  consistent  organiza- 
tion, or  the  mx)re  desirable  balance  of 
weights,  and  the  like. 

"However  this  may  be,  our  present  tests 
of  intelligence  are  not  merely  instruments 
to  measure  how  little  stimulus  is  required 
to  produce  a  perception  of  relation,  or  how 
many  relations  will  be  perceived  from  a 
given  constant  stimulus,  or  how  quickly. 
And  we  may  best  study  them  as  they  are 
before  dismissing  the  valuations  on  which 
they  are  based,  in  favor  of  any  simpler  and 
more  objective  system"  (pp.  19-20). 

It  should  be  obvious  that  the  "science" 
of  mental  measurement  is  not  yet  on  such 
a  secure  footing  that  it  can  afford  to  ignore 
the  well  considered  contributions  of  a 
mature  scholar  and  pioneer  investigator  in 
the   field.     Even   if   Professor   Spearman's. 


304 


Book  Reviews 


entire  theoretical  construction  of  a  new 
psychology  based  on  individual  differences 
should  collapse,  the  test  movement  will 
always  be  indebted  to  him  for  the  tools  of 
the  trade — the  actual  devices  used  for  the 
construction  of  any  theory  whatsoever. 

Vocational  psychology  as  an  empirical 
technique  has  a  few  useful  tools  and  needs 
more.  As  a  theoretical  system  it  is  pitifully 
weak.  Professor  Spearman's  new  book 
offers  vocational  psychology  a  new  tool  and 
a  theoretical  justification  for  its  existence. 

The  first  tool  of  vocational  psychology 
was  correlation.  The  second  tool  was 
partial  and  multiple  correlation  with  re- 
gression weighting.  The  third,  and  most 
important  tool  yet  discovered,  is  the  tetrad 
equation  which  is  Professor  Spearman's 
contribution. 

The  two-factor  theorj'  is  too  well  known 
for  exposition  here.  The  present  book  uses 
as  the  basis  of  proof  the  statement  that  if 
the  correlation  between  two  tests  is  due  to 
a  general  factor,  the  partial  correlation 
between  the  two  tests  with  the  general 
factor  eliminated  must  be  zero.  The 
practical  investigation  of  this  situation 
involves  the  analysis  of  all  combinations 
of  tests,  taken  four  at  a  time,  which  may  be 
found  in  a  table  of  inter-correlations,  by 
the  following  equations: 

ri2  X  rn  —  ru  X  r24  =  0 
ri2  X  ^34  —  ru  X  r23  =  0 
ri3  X  r24  -  ru  X  r23  =  0 

The  tetrad  differences  obtained  are  then 
compared  to  their  probable  errors  to 
determine  whether  or  not  they  vary  signifi- 
cantly from  zero. 

It  is  Professor  Spearman's  contention 
that  ordinarily  acceptable  tests  of  "intelli- 
gence" do  show  tetrad  differences  as  close 
to  zero  as  one  might  expect  from  their 
probable  errors.  He  uses  tables  of  inter- 
correlation  to  prove  that  the  underlying 
cause  of  correlation  is  a  general  factor 
ig),  and  believes  that  most  specific  factors 
(s's)  are  largely  fortuitous  in  origin. 

Regardless  of  Professor  Spearman's  con- 
clusions from  the  data  presented,  the  tech- 
nique is  important.  The  existence  of 
specific  factors  is  implied  in  all  vocational 


psycholog\^,  and  now  they  may  be  investi- 
gated by  exact  methods.  In  evolving  the 
method  of  proving  the  existence  of  a  general 
factor.  Professor  Spearman  has  given  psy- 
chology a  powerful  tool  of  investigation. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  new  tool  will 
stimulate  investigation  and  make  for  great 
progress  in  a  lamentably  weak  field  of 
science.  The  duels  to  be  fought  with 
Professor  Spearman  over  his  interpreta- 
tions of  the  present  findings  in  the  field  of 
individual  differences  may  dominate  the 
field  for  the  next  few  years,  but  even  a 
complete  victory  for  his  opponents  cannot 
deprive  him  of  the  honor  of  having  fashioned 
the  weapons. 

There  will  be  debate  and  objection. 
There  will  be  objection  to  Professor  Spear- 
man's proof  that  g  exists,  to  his  survey  of 
the  w^hole  field  of  cognition,  to  his  finding 
that  specific  correlation  and  group  factors 
are  rare,  to  his  treatment  of  goodness  and 
speed  of  response,  to  his  acceptance — from 
Webb's  data — of  c  (as  freedom  from  general 
mental  inertia  or  preservation),  and  w 
(self-control)  as  factors  possessing  func- 
tional unity,  to  his  summary  dismissal  of 
results  from  certain  investigations  which 
do  not  fit  his  case,  and  to  many  other  major 
and  minor  points.  Nevertheless,  the  con- 
troversy should  lead  to  many  productive 
investigations. 

Mental  testers  who  build  tests  by  pulling 
items  from  a  hat  will  find  great  solace  in  the 
theorem  of  the  indifference  of  the  indicator, 
which  means  that  "for  the  purpose  of  indi- 
cating the  amount  of  g  possessed  by  a 
person,  any  test  will  do  just  as  well  as  any 
other,  provided  only  that  its  correlation 
with  g  is  equally  high.  With  this  proviso, 
the  most  ridiculous  'stunts'  will  meabure  the 
self-same  g  as  will  the  highest  exploits  of 
logic  or  flights  of  imagination"  (p.  197). 

Vocational  psychologists  may  acknowl- 
edge their  profession  unabashed  from  the 
theoretical  ground  of  g  and  s,  for  they  are 
the  specialists  in  s.  In  fact,  without 
adopting  g,  they  may  investigate  specific 
factors,  and  once  they  have  found  them, 
they  may  proceed  to  amplify  a  desirable  s 
by  discovering  other  tests  carrying  the 
same  s  and  adding  it  to  their  battery. 


Book  Reviews 


305 


Professor  Spearman's  ideal  g  battery  of 
tests  may  be  written  in  the  following  form 
in  which  an  individual's  score  is  represented 
as  the  sum  of  a  general  factor  {g)  common 
to  all  tests,  a  specific  factor  (s)  unique  to 
each  test,  and  an  error  of  measurement  (e). 

Score  in  test  1  =  ^  +  si  +  ei 

Score  in  test  2  =  g  +  S2  +  €2 

Score  in  test  3  =  3  +  sj  +  ^3 

Score  in  test  A  =  g  +  Si  +  et 

Score  in  test  n  =  g  s„  e„ 

In  this  arrangement,  each  s  is  specific  to 
each  test  and  that  test  only. 

If  the  vocational  psychologist  can  dis- 
cover several  tests  having  the  same  s,  he 
may  place  them  all  together  in  one  battery. 
Taking  the  simple  case  of  an  s  which  Pro- 
fessor Spearman  admits — arithmetical  abili- 
ties— let  the  vocational  psychologist  con- 
sistently give  two  or  more  of  these  tests  in 
a  general  battery.  If  they  carry  the  same 
s,  the  tetrad  differences  of  combinations  in 
which  these  tests  have  a  chance  to  operate 
will  be  large.  A  collection  of  tests  carry- 
ing this  factor  may  then  be  made  by  this 
technique,  and  reassembled  in  a  new  battery. 
Calling  this  new  factor  "sm,"  the  new  test 
battery  will  be : 

Test  I  g  +  Sm  +  si  +  ei 

Test  2  g  +  Sm  +  S2  +  ei 

Test  S  g  +  Sm  +  S3  +  ez 

Test  4i  g  +  Sm  +  Si  +  et 

Test  ng  +  Sm  +  Sn  +  e„ 

One  objection  to  Professor  Spearman's 
g  is  that  in  this  new  arrangement  the  tetrad 
differences  will  be  zero,  and  it  is  impossible 
objectively  to  disentangle  g  from  Sm-  Any 
broad  group  factor  such  as  one  which  might 
conceivably  be  generated  by  the  adminis- 
tration of  all  tests  in  a  battery  under  condi- 
tions of  limited  time  might  serve  to  check 
specific  correlation  and  make  the  g  factors 
appear  stronger.  Professor  Spearman  has 
taken  the  inductive  leap  here  and  insists 
that  gf  is  a  single  unitary  factor,  and  that 
the  g  we  get  in  the  many  varieties  of  intelli- 
gence tests  is  always  the  self -same  g.    The 


battle  for  g  must  be  fought  here.  The 
existence  of  a  pure  g  is  inferred  by  Professor 
Spearman  from  collections  of  tests  in  which 
specific  correlation  is  not  marked, — it  is 
not  conclusively  demonstrated. 

Professor  Spearman  accounts  for  g  by  his 
hypothesis  of  a  psychophysical  energy. 
Accepting  the  existing  investigations,  he 
holds  that  g  increases  from  birth  to  fifteen 
or  sixteen  years,  that  education  has  a 
dominant  influence  in  respect  of  s,  but 
normally  little  influence  on  g.  His  general 
conclusions  with  regard  to  g  are  about  the 
same  as  one  conventionally  reads  in  the 
literature — substituting,  of  course,  g  for 
"intelligence"  or  "native  ability." 

Vocational  psychology  will  find  its  most 
fruitful  field  in  the  investigation  of  s — the 
engines  rather  than  the  energy.  An  in- 
teresting corollary  to  the  theory  of  g  is  that 
derived  from  a  consideration  of  the  s 
factors : 

Since  a  great  many  abilities  depend 
almost  entirely  upon  the  efficiency  of  the 
engines  involved  and  this  efficiency  varies 
independently  from  individual  to  another, 
we  may  conclude  that  these  abilities  them- 
selves vary  almost  independently  from 
individual  to  individual. 

Let  us  try,  then,  to  get  a  notion  as  to 
how  such  abilities  of  any  single  person  must 
be  distributed  in  respect  of  excellence. 
By  all  experience — and  also  by  statistical 
theory,  in  which  we  cannot  enter  here — the 
great  bulk  of  his  abilities  will  tend  to  be 
mediocre;  that  is  to  say,  they  will  be  near 
the  general  average  of  the  class  of  individ- 
uals under  consideration.  A  fair  number 
will  be  distinctly  above  this  average,  and  a 
fair  number  below.  A  small  number  will 
be  much  above;  and  so  also,  below.  The 
whole  frequency  distribution  will,  in  fact, 
have  a  bell-like  shape  more  or  less  similar 
to  that  which  was  shown  by  the  curves  of 
the  tetrad-differences  to  be  expected  from 
sampling  errors.  At  the  extreme  ends  of 
the  distribution  will  lie  a  very  small  number 
for  which  the  person  is,  on  one  side  a  gen- 
ius, and  on  the  other  an  idiot.  Every 
normal  man,  woman,  and  child  is,  then,  a 
genius  at  something,  as  well  as  an  idiot  at 
something. 


306 


Book  Reviews 


"It  remains  to  discover  what — at  any 
rate  in  respect  of  the  genius.  This  must  be 
a  most  difficult  matter,  owing  to  the  very 
fact  that  it  occurs  only  in  a  minute  propor- 
tion out  of  all  possibilities.  It  certainly 
cannot  be  detected  by  any  of  the  testing 
procedures  at  present  in  current  usage;  but 
these  procedures  seem  to  be  susceptible  of 
vast  improvement"  (220-221). 

Important,  also,  for  vocational  psychol- 
ogy is  Professor  Spearman's  view  that 
fatigue  primarily  concerns  not  the  energy 
but  the  engines.  "Thus,  although  fatigue 
(objective)  has  above  proved  not  to  affect 
any  individual  in  special  degree  for  his 
operations  all  round,  it  now  does  show  itself 
to  affect  him  specially  for  certain  particular 
operations  (these  being  always  the  same, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  operation  by 
which  the  fatigue  was  produced).  In  other 
words,  he  has  for  these  particular  opera- 
tions a  chronic  liability  to  fatigue"  (p.  316). 

Having  quoted  Professor  Thorndike's 
opinion  of  Professor  Spearman's  theory  of 


cognition,  it  is  only  fair  to  note  that  the 
latter  is  entirely  free  from  the  charge  that 
his  second  and  third  neogenetic  laws  in- 
clude "all  of  intellect,"  for  he  includes  also 
the  field  of  self-awareness,  and  does  not 
hold  that  g  constitutes  the  whole  of  any 
operation  but  is  merely  a  factor  in  it. 

Profes.5or  Spearman  has  presented  a 
sj'stem  of  psychology  coherent  within  itself. 
The  system  as  it  stands  is  the  first  compre- 
hensive attempt  to  build  any  sort  of  struc- 
ture from  the  pieces  of  the  psychology  of 
individual  differences  now  lying  about.  It 
remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  structure 
itself  or  the  tools  that  built  it  will  last  the 
longer.  His  work  should  be  as  great  a 
stimulus  to  investigation  in  1928  as  Binet's 
scale  of  1908  was  to  its  ensuing  decade. 
Nothing  could  be  more  stimulating  to  the 
younger  investigators  in  the  field  than  the 
fact  that  the  academic  year  1926-1927  wit- 
nessed the  publication  of  the  conclusions 
of  its  two  most  eminent  scholars,  and  that 
the  results  are  utterly  discordant. 


A  MANUAL  OF  INDIVIDUAL  MENTAL  TESTS  AND  TESTING 

By   Augusta   F.    Bronner,   William   Healy,   Gladys   M.  Lowe, 
and  Myra  E.   Shimberg.     Boston:  Little,    Brown 
and  Company,  1927.     Pp.  287. 

Reviewed  by  B,  M.  Castner 


This  book  is  one  which  will  be  of  immense 
value  to  every  person  whose  work  is  con- 
cerned with  the  giving  or  interpreting  of 
mental  tests.  The  authors  have  set  out  to 
collect  into  one  volume  all  of  the  adequately 
standardized  individual  tests  which  have 
been  produced;  and  the  result  is  a  descrip- 
tion, usually  with  directions  and  norms,  of 
126  different  tests,  most  of  which  have  not 
before  been  between  book  covers,  and  a 
number  of  which  now  see  print  for  the  first 
time.     Suggestions     for     future     research 


are  offered  through  a  group  of  thirty  tests 
which,  while  not  conforming  to  the  editors' 
criterion  as  to  adequate  standardization, 
are  nevertheless  in  use,  and  of  some  apparent 
value.  An  introductory  chapter  on  practi- 
cal procedure,  and  a  section  on  interpreta- 
tion of  the  tests,  including  a  comparative 
and  critical  discussion,  add  to  the  helpful- 
ness of  the  work,  as  do  the  extensive  bibliog- 
raphy and  the  list  of  publishers  and  manu- 
facturers through  whom  the  materials 
described  may  be  obtained. 


Book  Reviews 


307 


MODERN  INDUSTRY 

By  E.  L.  Bogart  and  C.  E.  Landon.    New  York:  Longmans, 
Green  and  Company,  1927.    Pp.  593. 

Reviewed  by  A.  H.  Williams 


This  book  tells  the  reader  how  our 
present  industrial  machine  works.  The 
authors  aim  to  do  no  more,  feeling  that 
they  have  an  adequate  task  merely  to  de- 
scribe the  functioning  of  modern  industry 
and  thus  furnish  a  background  not  supplied 
by  economic  text  books.  The  volume  is  an 
outgrowth  of  a  college  course  in  economics 
and  is  intended  primarily  as  a  text  book, 
but  will  be  of  interest  to  business  men  and 
general  readers. 

The  material  in  "Modern  Industry"  is 
splendidly  organized.  The  opening  section 
discusses  Man's  struggle  for  existence  and 
the  motivating  force  of  economic  wants, 
together  with  such  characteristics  as 
specialization,  division  of  labor,  interde- 
pendence and  cooperation.  The  next  sec- 
tion consists  of  three  chapters  on  Man  as 
a  contributing  agent  in  the  industrial 
scheme.  This  is  probably  the  weakest 
portion  of  the  book  and  its  defects  are  ones 
of  omission.  In  thirty-five  pages  the  em- 
bryo student  of  economics  races  through 
such  topics  as  "attribute  of  will,"  "moral 
qualities,"  "racial  differences,"  "heredity," 
"eugenics,"  "environment,"  "sanitation 
and  hygiene,"  "education,"  "vocational 
training,"  "hiring  and  firing,"  "scientific 
selection  of  workers,"  "mental  tests," 
"special  ability  tests"  and  "mental  alert- 
ness tests."  One  is  reminded  of  the  old 
saw,  "a  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing." 

Parts  Three  and  Four  present  material 
which  usually  comprises  the  field  of  regional 


and  commercial  geography:  the  factors  of 
physical  environment,  and  mining,  fishing, 
lumbering,  livestock  and  dairy  production 
and  agricultural  industries. 

In  Part  Five  the  role  played  in  modern 
industry  by  the  machine  process,  invention, 
power,  large  scale  production  and  chemistry 
is  especially  well  presented. 

Manufacturing  is  described  in  the  next 
section  by  means  of  type  industries.  The 
reviewer  feels  that  here  too  much  space 
is  given  to  pure  description  of  processes  and 
not  enough  to  the  social  significance  of  the 
processes.  Thus,  in  discussing  flour  milling 
as  illustrative  of  those  manufacturing  in- 
dustries which  make  large  use  of  machinery 
and  are  usually  large  scale,  the  opportunity 
to  show  why  mills  are  very  large  or  very 
small,  why  capacity  is  260  per  cent  of  pro- 
duction, how  the  shift  to  the  gradual  re- 
duction process  affected  the  growth  of  the 
Minneapolis  and  Kansas  City  milling  areas 
is  lost. 

The  book  concludes  with  a  description 
of  the  processes  of  exchange  such  as  trans- 
portation, communication,  money,  credit 
and  the  middleman. 

Although  well  organized  and  in  good 
style,  this  book  suffers  like  most  survey 
books  in  attempting  to  cover  too  much 
ground.  With  so  much  material  and  so 
little  space  in  which  to  present  it,  one  ques- 
tions the  advisability  of  presenting  a  some- 
what extended  quotation  twice  as  is  done 
on  pages  36  and  457. 


HARMONY  BETWEEN  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL 

By  Oscar  Newfang.    New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1927.     Pp.  238. 

Reviewed  by  Leo  Wolman 


In  spite  of  the  prevalence  of  industrial 
peace  in  this  country  during  the  past  five 
years,   active  minds  will  not  be  stopped 


from  calling  attention  to  the  slight  dis- 
turbances of  the  present  and  from  discern- 
ing forces  that  may  make  for  trouble  in  the 


308 


Book  Reviews 


future  not  unlike  the  great  industrial 
struggles  of  the  past.  Those  who  are  so 
minded  still  find  in  this  industrial  order  the 
seeds  for  profound  dissatisfaction  and  un- 
rest that  are,  when  least  expected,  bound 
to  break  out  in  serious  conflict.  They, 
therefore,  continue  the  perennial  search  for 
methods  of  industrial  peace  and  occasion- 
ally end  their  quest  with  a  few  searching 
observations  and  a  plan. 

This  book  of  Mr.  Newfang's  is  a  study  of 
this  kind.  In  a  compact  book,  attractively 
written  without  footnote  references  to  the 
learned  treatises  on  the  same  subject,  he 
passes  in  swift  review  the  pertinent  prac- 
tises of  competitive  industry  as  they  affect 
the  position  of  hired  workers.  In  common 
with  most  of  his  predecessors  he  finds  the 
wage-earner's  status  uncertain  and  un- 
stable, his  income  inadequate,  and  his 
authority  in  the  decisions  of  industry 
negligible.  The  core  of  the  industrial 
problem,  and  therefore  the  source  of  con- 
flict, is  according  to  this  analysis,  the 
growing  concentration  of  wealth  and  of 
authority,  or  control.  In  other  words,  the 
root  of  the  evil  lies  in  the  failure  to  provide 
a  wider  control  over  the  social  surplus. 

The  many  measures  devised  by  this 
society  for  narrowing  the  area  of  conflict, 
Mr.  Newfang  finds  unsatisfactory,  partly 
because  they  still  leave  too  large  a  residue 
of  disorder  and  partly  because  they  do  not 
affect  the  heart  of  the  matter.  His  stric- 
tures on  many  of  the  practices  of  the  wage 
system  naturally  suffer  from  their  cursory 
character.  Much,  for  instance,  of  what  he 
saj's  regarding  the  defects  of  the  piece  work 
method  of  wage  payment  is  true  where  piece 
rates  are  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
market.  But  where  piece  work  is  under 
control,  as  it  frequently  is  and  always  can 
be,  the  system  of  payment  by  output  is 
shorn  of  most  of  its  evils.  The  descrip- 
tion of  trade  unionism,  again,  shows  that 
institution  at  its  worst,  where  it  becomes 
only  a  makeshift  and  a  poor  one  at  that. 
Unemployment  insurance,  likewise,  does 
not,  where  it  works,  deserve  the  strictures 
it  receives.  It  is  difficult  to  administer 
and  it  produces  new  abuses,  but  compared 
to  the  ravages  of  a  disorganized  labor  mar- 
ket, unemployment  insurance  with  its 
employment    exchanges    becomes    a    most 


harmonious  arrangement.  The  minimum 
wage,  finally,  cannot  be  condemned  because 
it  is  hard  to  fix,  when  it  is  recalled,  as  the 
author  seems  to  forget,  that  the  present 
system  of  industry  and  nearly  all  of  its 
proposed  heirs  still  leave  room  for  a  vast 
amount  of  bargaining. 

These  are,  however,  irrelevant  considera- 
tions in  light  of  a  comprehensive  program 
for  the  reorganization  of  industry.  Such  a 
plan  Mr.  Newfang  lays  before  his  readers. 
The  plan  involves  restricting  the  return  to 
capital  to  a  fair  return,  or  one  about  2  per 
cent  above  the  average  yield  of  bonds  in  a 
specified  industry;  distributing  the  remain- 
ing earnings  of  industry  between  manage- 
ment and  labor.  In  this  new  division  of 
business  earnings,  "a  preliminary  salary  or 
wage,  called  a  drawing-account  wage, 
should  be  paid  weekly  or  monthly,  and  the 
excess  profits  after  the  dividend  has  been 
paid  should  be  distributed  among  the  work- 
ers in  proportion  to  their  wages  or  salaries 
at  the  close  of  the  year  or  through  the 
following  year  in  periodical  installments." 
The  return  to  management  is  limited  to  10 
per  cent  of  the  total  earnings  of  the  busi- 
ness. When  a  business  earns  "excess  prof- 
its above  dividends  equal  to  a  20  per  cent 
or  larger  distribution  to  labor,  the  follow- 
ing year  preliminary  wages  should  be 
raised  5  per  cent ;"  when  the  business  fails  to 
earn  "the  fixed  dividends  allowed,  the 
following  j^ear  preliminary  wages  should  be 
reduced  5  per  cent."  The  drawing-account 
wage  is  left  to  the  forces  of  the  market  and 
disputes  over  accounting  and  audit  are 
submitted  first  to  auditors  jointly  chosen 
and  finally,  in  case  of  failure  to  agree, 
for  adjudication  to  the  "courts  of  the 
land." 

Another  variant  of  the  many  programs 
for  industrial  progress,  the  proposal  of  Mr. 
Newfang,  like  the  rest,  is  concerned  primar- 
ily with  the  redistribution  of  wealth  and 
income.  Beyond  this,  the  author's  plan 
has  its  peculiar  merits — it  is  simple,  clear, 
and  is,  in  a  measure,  based  on  some  of  the 
realities  of  business  and  industry.  It  fails, 
where  many  equally  sound  proposals  have 
failed  and  will  continue  to  fail.  It  under- 
estimates the  strength  of  the  attraction 
between  a  growing  social  surplus  and  its 
possessors. 


Book  Reviews 


309 


FOURTEEN  IS  TOO  EARLY;  SOME  PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF 
SCHOOL  LEAVING  AND  CHILD  LABOR 

By  Raymond  G.  Fuller.     New  York:  National  Child  Labor 
Committee,  1927.     Pp.  40 

Reviewed  by  Emily  Burr 


An  eloquent  and  convincing  brief  has  been 
written  by  Raymond  G.  Fuller  under  the 
title,  "Fourteen  Is  Too  Early;  Some  Psy- 
chological Aspects  of  School-Leaving  and 
Child  Labor,"  to  refute  the  contention  set 
forth  by  the  National  Association  of  Manu- 
facturers that  all  children  when  they  reach 
the  age  of  fourteen  should  be  free  of  legal 
obligation  to  attend  school  and  thus  made 
available  for  employment  in  industry. 

Mr,  Fuller  has  gone  into  the  subject 
exhaustively  and  his  paper  bristles  with 
facts  and  rests  upon  citations  by  authorities 
that  make  of  it  not  an  academic  opinion  but 
a  reasoned  judgment  supported  by  incon- 
trovertible facts. 

Mr.  Fuller's  essay  is  being  circulated  by 
the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  and 
it  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  brought  to  the 
attention  of  whatever  state  legislative  com- 
mittees are  considering  laws  governing 
child  labor  and  the  minimum  for  compulsory 
school  attendance. 

The  author  explodes  the  theory  that 
economic  necessity  justifies  the  early  with- 
drawal of  fourteen-year-old  boys  and  girls 
from  school  and  deals  convincingly  with 
another  pretext  for  such  withdrawals  which 
lies  in  the  alleged  mental  inferiority  of  these 
adolescents. 

The  pamphlet  is  not  a  partisan  tract  and 
because  of  this  fairness  to  both  sides  of  the 
question  commands  respect.  The  author 
admits  that  intelligence  tests  measure  in- 
telligence relatively  only.  He  concedes 
that  education  en  masse  is  not  ideal  and 
cannot  obtain  uniform  results  in  all  those 
to  whom  it  is  applied.  As  the  speed  of  a 
fleet  is  the  speed  of  its  slowest  ship,  so  the 
progress  of  a  class  under  the  present  system 
of  education  in  the  public  schools  marks 
the  progress  not  of  the  pupils  with  I.Q.'s 
above  the  norm  nor  yet  of  those  below  the 
norm,  but  of  those  at  an  equal  distance 
from  the  top  and  bottom.     Thus  the  pace 


of  the  class  will  be  too  quick  for  those 
graded  by  intelligence  tests  as  "dull"  and 
too  slow  for  those  designated  as  of  "superior 
intelligence." 

In  combating  the  theory  that  mental 
inferiority  justifies  the  withdrawal  from 
school  of  pupils  of  fourteen,  the  author 
points  out  that  this  "mental  inferiority"  is 
arrived  at  by  intelligence  tests  which  do  not 
reveal  emotional  attitudes  and  character 
traits  such  as  initiative,  ambition,  persever- 
ance, sincerity,  loyalty,  honesty,  sociabil- 
ity, capacity  for  cooperation,  courtesy, 
dependability  or  originality.  He  com- 
mands respect  for  these  tests  by  revealing 
their  limitations  and  cites  chapter  and 
verse  to  upset  the  notion  that  a  child's 
future  success  depends  on  his  I.Q. 

Mr.  Fuller  has  a  good  word  to  say  for 
Vocational  Guidance,  which  he  calls  also 
educational  guidance  and  justly  bemoans 
the  fact  that  it  is  too  frequently  absent. 
Where  it  does  exist  statistics  are  there  to 
show  that  it  counsels  the  reduction  of 
early  school-leaving  and  is  against  the 
premature  employment  of  children  in 
industry.  A  point  aptly  made  is  that  a 
wide  gulf  separates  children's  work  and 
child  labor. 

The  author  points  out  that  if  all  children 
in  school  must  be  subjected  to  the  same 
standards  of  intellectual  accomplishment 
at  the  same  rate  of  progress  in  dealing  with 
the  same  intellectual  materials,  then  it 
may  be  true  that  many  children  are  not 
educable  beyond  a  rather  low  level.  But 
educability  has  to  do  with  the  whole  of 
personality  and  the  schools  belong  to  the 
children  of  all  the  people.  The  way  of 
arriving  at  the  common  objectives  must  be 
through  doing  things  well  that  the  children 
can  do  well  according  to  their  capacities 
and  interests. 

In  conclusion  are  three  excellent  sec- 
tions on  Education  and  Mental  Hygiene, 


THE   PERSONNEL  JOCRN.VL,    VOL.    VI,    NO.    4 


310 


Book  Reviews 


the  Question  of  Delinquency,  and  Educa- 
tion in  Early  Adolescence.  "Mental  health 
like  morality,  is  adversely  affected  by 
fatigue,  and  especially  cumulative  fatigue, 
which  leads  to  a  lowered  psj'cho-physical 
tone  and  heightened  suggestibility;  at  this 
period  of  early  adolescence,  fatigue  comes 
easier  and  sooner,  yet  restless  activity 
tends  to  cloak  the  effects  of  it.  This  is  the 
time,  naturally,  of  the  large  fundamental 
muscles  of  arms,  legs  and  trunk;  but  jobs 
often  stress  the  finer  neuro-muscular  co- 
ordinations, with  resultant  nervous  strain. 
Monotonous  indoor  tasks  for  long  hours 
mean  repression  of  many  powers  and  the 
thwarting  of  creative  impulses,  at  a  time 
when  a  maximima  of  freedom  in  self-ex- 
pression and  a  minimum  of  compulsion  and 
regimentation  are  more  than  ever  required 
for  the  healthful,  symmetrical  growth  of 
mind  and  personality." 


As  the  above  quotation  demonstrates, 
this  little  pamphlet  contains  much  food  for 
thought.  It  is  full  of  suggestions  for  em- 
ployers of  labor  as  well  as  for  educators. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  question  of 
delinquency,  the  author  comes  pretty  near 
proving  his  point  that  early  emploj'ment  in 
industry  is  frequently  a  cause  of  juvenile 
delinquency.  He  cites  figures  from  the 
Boston  Juvenile  Court  to  the  effect  that  six 
times  as  many  working  children  fourteen 
and  fifteen  years  old  were  convicted  of 
offences  as  children  of  the  same  age  attend- 
ing school. 

"Fourteen  Is  Too  Early"  will  be  hailed 
by  all  those  engaged  in  mental  hygiene  and 
vocational  guidance  work  as  an  inspiring 
resume  of  the  soundest  logic  proclaimed  by 
many  authorities  on  the  burning  question 
of  the  education  and  employment  of  adoles- 
cents. 


PROBLEMS  IN  INDUSTRIAL  MANAGEMENT 

By  E.  H.  Schell  and  H.  H.  Thurlhy.     Chicago:  A.  W. 
Shaw  Co.,  1927.     Pp.  551 

Reviewed  by  Merrill  R.  Lott 


The  authors  have  prepared  this  extensive 
collection  of  business  problems  for  use  in 
connection  with  courses  given  by  collegiate 
schools  of  business  administration.  These 
cases  have  been  largely  drawn  from  instruc- 
tion material  used  in  the  Harvard  Graduate 
School  of  Business  Administration  and 
cover  a  wide  variety  of  actual  situations 
faced  by  different  types  of  industry. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  group  the 
161  illustrations  given,  under  the  headings 
of 

Plant,  buildings  and  equipment 

Materials  and  their  procurement 

Organization 

Scientific  method 

Labor 

Management  control 

On  account  of  the  inter-relationships 
that  exist  between  the  different  phases  of 


management,  it  has  been  a  difficult  matter 
to  assign  a  given  problem  to  one  of  the 
specific  groups  mentioned,  but  in  general, 
the  arrangement  selected  is  a  helpful  one. 

In  certain  instances  the  problem  has 
been  merely  stated  in  a  sketchy  manner 
with  no  comment  as  to  the  steps  taken,  or 
which  might  be  taken,  to  overcome  the  un- 
satisfactory conditions  stated  to  prevail. 
In  other  instances,  the  problem  has  been 
followed  by  leading  questions  intended  to 
stimulate  thought  along  lines  of  possible 
approach  to  the  solution  of  the  difficulties 
cited.  Still  other  cases,  given  in  detail, 
have  been  followed  by  commentaries  which 
criticize  the  faulty  procedures  and  indicate 
constructive  measures  which  might  be 
applied.  Helpful  bibliographies  have  been 
given  at  the  close  of  the  various  chapters 
for  guiding  supplementary  reading. 

The  usefulness  of  this  book  is  not  con- 


Book  Reviews 


311 


fined  to  purposes  of  collegiate  instruction. 
It  should  serve  at  least  two  types  of  busi- 
ness executive  as  indicated  by  the  following : 
1.  It  shows  the  wide  application  and 
feasibility  of  modern  agencies  of  manage- 
ment control  to  the  man  who  has  been  prone 


to  regard  his  business  as  being  "peculiar" 
and  not  subject  to  scientific  methods. 

2.  It  suggests  methods  which  may  find 
application  to  the  particular  needs  of  the 
executive  who  is  open  minded  and  search- 
ing for  improved  procedures. 


VENTILATION  AND  HEALTH 

By  Thomas  D.  Wood  and  Ethel  M.  Hendriksen.    New  York: 
D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1927.     Pp.  210. 

Reviewed  by  Max  Freyd 


Apparently  the  most  fundamentally  true 
statements  are  often  not  appreciated  until 
hammered  home  through  repetition  and 
telling  illustration.  One  would  imagine 
that  everyone  of  high  school  education 
knows  that  people  feel  better  in  cool  air 
than  in  hot  air,  and  in  air  in  motion  than  in 
stagnant  air,  and  that  warm  air  rises  to  the 
ceiling  in  a  closed  room ;  yet  here  is  a  volume 
for  people  responsible  for  correct  ventila- 
tion, devoted  largely  to  a  restatement  of 
these  simple  facts,   proof  of  their  truth. 


and    examples    of    correct    and    incorrect 
application  of  ventilation  principles. 

While  the  book  is  very  repetitive,  it  finds 
space  for  the  meaning  of  ventilation  for 
health,  ventilation  practices,  laws,  and 
costs.  It  describes  and  recommends  the 
window-gravity  system  of  ventilation,  by 
which  a  duct  in  the  ceiling  leading  to  the 
roof  carries  off  the  warm  air  which  naturally 
rises  to  the  ceiling,  while  fresh  air  enters 
from  windows  placed  above  radiators. 


THE  BOOK  OF  OPPORTUNITIES.     WHAT  3000  AMERICAN 
OCCUPATIONS  HAVE  TO  OFFER 

Edited  by  Rutherford  H.  Piatt,  Jr.     New   York:  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  1927.     Pp.  477 

Reviewed  by  Max  Feeyd 


With  winter  and  its  long  dull  evenings 
drawing  near,  the  problem  of  conversation 
and  intellectual  amusement  raises  its  head. 
New  topics  of  conversation  must  constantly 
be  unearthed,  new  things  must  be  dragged 
out  for  the  delectation  of  visitors. 

But  now  we  have  a  volume — 477  pages — 
which  promises  to  serve  on  all  occasions. 
When  your  visitors  begin  to  yawn,  just 
pull  good  old  "Book  of  Opportunities"  from 
its  niche  beside  Mencken's  "Americana," 
and  open  it  to  any  page.  If  your  guests 
happen  to  be  psychologists  turn  to  page 
350— 


8.  Psychology 
Science  of  mind  is  basis  of  teaching 
(see  Education).  It  plays  important 
part  in  handling  social  misfits  (see  So- 
cial Work),  in  treating  diseased  minds 
(see  Medicine).  It  is  backbone  of 
vocational  guidance  (see  Personnel 
Work).  As  separate  profession  it  does 
not  yet  stand  alone,  though  many  per- 
sons earn  their  living  in  its  name. 
(1)    MW    Phrenologist. 

Advises  clients  as  to  what  they 
should  do  in  life,  by  feeling  bumps  on 


312 


Book  Reviews 


heads,  on  theory  that  shape  of  skull 
indicates  faculties,  traits  of  char- 
acter. 

(.2)     MW     Graphologist. 

Handwriting  expert,  capable 
of  learning  character,  career  of  pen- 
man by  observing  subtle  traits  in  for- 
mation of  letters;  keen  to  note  skillful 
forgeries.  Gives  private  readings; 
may  be  called  on  by  police  to  deter- 
mine if  signatures  have  been  forged, 
or  to  trace  unknown  person  by  his 
handwriting. 

(3)    MW    Mental  telepathist. 

Claims  to  be  mind  reader. 
People  pay  their  money  eagerly  to 
see  convincing  demonstrations. 

When    your    favorite    bootlegger    calls, 
flash  this  on  him — 

(5)     MW     Bootlegger. 

Field  somewhat  overcrowded 
at  present.  Offers  fabulous  profits. 
Almost  inevitablj'  ends  in  coils  of  the 
law.  Bootleggers  are  refused  accident 
insurance,  by  recent  ruling  of  Acci- 
dent Underwriters'  Association. 

And  for  your  snake  charmer  friend  you 
can  quote  this  one — 

(29)     W    Snake  charmer. 

Judging      by       appearances 
snakes  can  be  affectionate  pets. 

If  you  have  no  use  for  this  one,  some  one 
else  surel}'  will — 


(2)     W    Co-respondent. 

$20  up  to  become  "Miss  X,  a 
blonde",  slip  negligee  over  dress  in 
presence  of  coatless  man,  ready  for 
entrance  of  raiding  party.  New 
York  man  is  said  to  make  living  by 
furnishing  "evidence  girls"  for  di- 
vorce cases.  Shady  business,  but 
found  in  state  like  New  York  where 
adultery  is  only  ground  for  divorce. 

But  the  volume  has  its  serious  side.  The 
authors  want  to  show  the  opportunities  for 
youth  in  every  type  of  endeavor.  When 
Johnny'  graduates  from  knickers  into  plus 
fours,  and  the  necessity  for  vocational  guid- 
ance presses  in  upon  your  consciousness,  it 
will  be  reassuring  indeed  to  know  that  there 
are  great  opportunities  in  this  profession — 

(4)     M     Gangster. 

Formerly  his  scope  was  con- 
fined to  service  in  industrial  strikes; 
now  he  is  called  into  service  of  boot- 
leggers also.  Lawless  strikers  as  well 
as  strike-breakers  employ  gangsters 
to  beat  up  the  other  side,  pay  them 
$100-$200  a  week.  In  one  New  York 
needle  trade  strike  there  was  definite 
scale  of  wages:  S50  for  breaking  a  leg, 
SlOO  for  an  arm,  $50  for  breaking  four 
fingers  used  by  needle  trade  workers. 
Nowadays  gangsters  ride  on  boot- 
leggers' trucks,  guarding  banned  bev- 
erage by  sheer  force  from  prohibition 
officers. 

It  promises  to  be  a  lively  winter. 


New  Books 


Burrow,  Nicholas  T.  The  Social  Basis 
of  Consciousness.  New  York:  Harcourt, 
Brace  and  Company,  1927.     274  p.     S4.00. 

CoNKLiN,  Edmund  S.  Principles  of  Ab- 
normal Psychology.  New  York:  Henry 
Holt  and  Company,  1927.     464  p.     $4.50. 

Fairchild,  Henky  p.,  Editor.  Immigrant 
Backgrounds.  New  York:  John  Wiley 
and  Sons,  1927.     269  p.    $2.75. 

FoRMAN,  Samuel,  E.  The  Rise  of  American 
Commerce     and    Industry.     New     York: 


The  Century  Company.  1927.  517  p. 
$2.00. 

Gardiner,  Glenn  L.  Foremanship. 
Chicago:  A.  W.  Shaw  Company,  1927. 
695  p.     $6.00. 

Hulverson,  George  R.  Personnel.  New 
York:  Ronald  Press,  1927.     411  p.     $4.50. 

Huttinger,  E.  Paul.  The  Law  of  Sales- 
manship. New  York:  D.  Appleton  and 
Company,  1927.     263  p.     $2.50. 

Kline,  Linus  W.,  and  Kline,  Frances  L. 


Book  Reviews 


313 


Psychology  by  Experiment.  Boston:  Ginn 
and  Company,   1927.     351  p.     $2.00. 

Leary,  Daniel  B.  That  Mind  of  Yours. 
Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company, 
1927.     226  p.    $1.75. 

Lyon,  Leveretts,  and  Butler,  A.  Marie. 
Vocational  Readings.  New  York:  Mac- 
millan  Company,  1927.     590  p.     $1.68. 

Mays,  Arthur  Beverly.  The  Problem  of 
Industrial  Education.  New  York:  The 
Century  Company,  1927.    428  p.     $2.25. 

McDowALL,  R.  J.  S.,  Editor.  The  Mind. 
New  York:  Longmans,  Green  and  Com- 
pany, 1927.    330  p.    $3.00. 

Morgan,  John  J.  B.,  and  Gilliland,  A.  R. 
An  Introduction  to  Psychology.  New 
York:  The  Macmillan  Company,  1927. 
328  p.     $1.60. 

Notes,  Arthur  P.  A  Textbook  of  Psychia- 
try. New  York:  The  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, 1927.    345  p.    $2.60. 

National  Committee  on  Research  in  Sec- 
ondary Education.  An  Outline  of  Meth- 
ods of  Research  With  Suggestions  for  High 
School  Principals  and  Teachers.  Wash- 
ington :  Government  Printing  Office,  1927. 
37  p.  $.10. 

Potwin,  Marjorie  a.  Cotton  Mill  People 
of  the  Piedmont.  New  York:  Columbia 
University  Press,    1927.     166  p.   $3.00. 

Reed,  Anna  Y.  Human  Waste  in  Educa- 
tion. New  York:  The  Century  Com- 
pany, 1927.    477  p.    $2.50. 

RiEGEL,  Robert.  Elements  of  Business 
Statistics.    Revised  Edition.     New  York: 


D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1927.  569 
p.     $4.00 

RiETz,  H.  L.  Mathematical  Statistics.  Chi- 
cago: Open  Court  Publishing  Company, 
1927.     181  p.     $2.00. 

RoBACK,  Abraham  A.  The  Psychology  of 
Character.  New  York:  Harcourt,  Brace 
and  Company,   1927.     619  p.     $5.50. 

Root,  William  T.  A  Series  of  Seven  Radio 
Talks  on  Psychology  for  Parents.  Pitts- 
burgh: University  of  Pittsburgh,  1927. 
55  p. 

RosANOFF,  A.  J.,  Editor.  Manual  of 
Psychiatry.  Sixth  Edition,  Revised  and 
Enlarged.  New  York:  John  Wiley  and 
Sons,  1927.     697  p.     $6.00. 

Skeeles,  Arthur  G.  How  and  Why  Prac- 
tice Makes  Perfect.  New  York:  Gregg 
Publishing  Company,  1927.     123  p.    $.20. 

Sumner,  William  G.,  and  Keller,  Albert 
G.  The  Science  of  Society,  Volume  III. 
New  Haven:  Yale  University  Press, 
1927.    $4.00. 

Swift,  Edgar  J.  The  Psychology  of  Youth. 
New  York:  Chas.  Scribners  Sons,  1927. 
353  p.    $2.50. 

Valentine,  P.  F.  The  Psychology  of 
Personality.  New  York:  D.  Appleton 
and  Company,   1927.     403  p.     $2.50. 

Wallin,  J.  E.  W.  Clinical  and  Abnormal 
Psychology.  Boston:  Houghton  Mifflin 
Company,  1927.     671  p.     $3.00. 

Whitehead,  Harold.  Problems  of  the 
Executive.  New  York:  Thomas  Y.  Crow- 
ell  Company,  1927.    319  p.    $2.50. 


News  Notes 


PERSONNEL  RESEARCH  FEDERATION 

News  Notes  of  Member  Organizations 
Vocational  Service  for  Juniors 

We  are  indebted  to  Miss  Clare  L.  Lewis, 
of  the  Vocational  Service  for  Juniors,  for  the 
following  statement  of  an  unusual  employ- 
ment condition,  arid  the  steps  that  are  being 
taken  to  remedy  it. 

The  weeks  just  past  (October,  1927)  have 
presented  a  situation  in  the  employment 
office  of  the  Vocational  Service  for  Juniors 
unknown,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  since 
the  period  of  general  industrial  depression 
in  1921.  September  and  October  are  or- 
dinarily the  peak  months  of  the  year  as  far 
as  junior  employment  in  New  York  is  con- 
cerned. Business  is  brisk,  openings  for 
boys  and  girls  are  numerous  and  often 
salaries  paid  are  somewhat  higher  than  at 
other  times  of  the  year.  Many  children 
at  this  time  secure  jobs,  and  often  desirable 
ones,  through  friends  or  relatives  and  others 
obtain  work  through  the  newspaper  ads  or 
through  the  numerous  "help  wanted"  signs 
displayed  in  front  of  various  business  estab- 
lishments. Applicants  at  the  placement 
office  of  our  organization  can  usually  be 
afforded  a  choice  of  five  to  ten  different 
openings.  (That  is,  the  boys  and  girls 
applying  for  employment  during  the  fall 
months  are  not  usually  called  upon  to  take 
just  anything  as  a  makeshift.  Instead,  if 
they  have  a  definite  desire  for  some  sort  of 
work,  the  chances  are  good  that  that  desire 
may  be  gratified.)  This  is  a  state  of  affairs 
which  many  of  the  children,  and  the  teach- 
ers in  the  Continuation  School  where  our 
placement  office  is  located  as  well,  have 
come  naturally  to  expect  and  to  count  upon, 
but  this  year  matters  have  l)een  radically 
different.  The  situation  for  September  was 
as  follows : 

The  demand  for  junior  workers  on  the 


part  of  New  York  employers  has  shown  a 
marked  decline  this  fall,  not  only  as  com- 
pared with  our  figures  of  a  year  ago,  but 
also,  as  chart  1  shows,  as  compared  with 
those  of  any  year  since  1921. 

The  contrast  between  September  of  this 
year  and  September  of  last  year  is  par- 
ticularly marked.  The  figures  for  these  two 
years  are  as  follows : 


Number  of  openings 

available 

for  J 

uniors 

BOVS 

GIRLS 

TOT.VL 

September,  1926 

1,181 
550 

666 
333 

1,847 

September,  1927 

883 

These  figures,  as  may  be  seen,  show  a  falling 
off  of  exactly  50  per  cent  in  the  number  of 
openings  for  girls  and  a  decrease  of  slightly 
more  than  50  per  cent  in  the  jobs  available 
for  boys. 

In  some  lines  of  work  the  shortage  of 
openings  was  more  apparent  than  in  others. 
An  analysis  of  the  kinds  of  jobs  available 
during  September,  1927,  as  compared  with 
September,  1926,  reveals  the  following  facts: 

1.  The  total  number  of  trade  opportuni- 

ties for  both  boys  and  girls  shows  a 
falling  off  of  68  per  cent  in  September 
this  year  as  compared  with  the 
figures  for  September  a  year  ago. 

2.  Factory    openings    decreased    56    per 

cent. 

3.  Office  and  clerical  openings  fell  off  52 

percent. 

4.  Mercantile  openings  fell  off  46  per  cent. 

5.  Errand  jobs  decreased  39  per  cent. 

The  present  situation  would  seem  to  be 
due  not  to  any  general  slump  in  business  but 
rather  to  the  present  period  of  keen  business 
competition,  combined  with  falling  prices, 
the  result  of  which  is  to  make  margins  of 
profit   exceedingly    narrow,    especially   for 


314 


News  Notes 


315 


the  smaller  or  less  efficiently  managed  firms. 
An  employer  must  cut  his  current  expenses 
to  a  minimum  if  he  is  to  make  any  reason- 
able profit  and  one  way  by  which  he  can 
do  so  is  to  lay  off  many  of  his  youngest  and 


2009 


the  applicants  themselves.  Unable  to 
secure  work  this  fall  as  usual  through 
friends  and  relatives  or  perhaps  through 
newspaper  ads,  more  boys  and  girls  are 
turning  to  the  placement  office  than  ever 


teoo 


1600 


lioo 


tioo 


1000 


900 


6<X> 


foo 


10  O 


>epT.        Se.p'^        Sep-t 
/far        ffic        iflr 

Fig.  1.  Total  Number  of  Openings  Available  for  Juniors  Each  September  from 
September,  1921,  to  September,  1927 


most  unskilled  workers,  in  other  words,  the 
boys  and  girls  with  whom  the  Vocational 
Service  for  Juniors  deals. 

There  is  yet  another  side  to  the  situation 
as  the  employment  bureau  sees  it,  that  of 


before  at  this  season  of  the  year.  The 
total  number  of  applicants  applying  to  the 
Vocational  Service  for  Juniors  for  work 
during  September  of  this  year  shows  an 
increase  of  approximately  56  per  cent  over 


316 


News  Notes 


the  number  applying  in  September  a  year 
ago.  The  figures  for  the  two  years  are  as 
follows : 


Number  of  individuals 

applying  for  work 

BOYS 

QIRLS 

TOTAL 

September,  1926 

September,  1927 

150 
286 

162 

200 

312 

4S6 

These  applicants  were  of  three  kinds: 

1.  Those  boys  and  girls  who  left  school 

last  June  and  who,  owing  to  their 
inability  to  get  jobs  during  the 
summer,  are  going  to  work  this  fall 
for  the  first  time.  An  analysis  of 
this  group  shows  an  increase  of  38 
per  cent  in  the  number  under  sixteen 
years  of  age  as  compared  with  Sep- 
tember of  last  year. 

2.  Those  who  have  worked  but  have  been 

laid  off  by  their  employers  and  told 
that  business  is  "slack"  and  who 
have  found  it  difficult  to  secure  em- 
ployment again. 

3.  Those  who,  studying  the  chart  in  the 

employment  office  and  expecting  a 
great  variety  of  openings  to  be 
available  in  September  as  usual, 
quit  the  jobs  they  had,  hoping  to 
secure  something  better.  Publicity 
along  this  line  last  year  brought  to 
the  office  a  number  of  such  cases  and 
the  counselors  were  dismayed  at 
first  by  their  arrival,  the  situation 
being  what  it  is.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, although  these  boys  and  girls 
could  not  always  be  given  jobs  which 
were  decidedly  better  than  those 
they  left,  they  at  least  could  be  sent 
to  openings  which  were  as  good. 

Such  being  the  present  situation,  the 
outlook  for  the  coming  months,  as  far  as 
junior  workers  is  concerned,  would  appear 
none  too  encouraging.  Hence,  as  a  measure 
of  preparedness,  every  effort  is  being  made 
by  the  members  of  the  placement  office 
staff  to  make  contacts  with  as  many  new 
firms  as  possible  so  that  more  openings 
may  be  found.  Also  the  West  Side  Con- 
tinuation School,  in  which  the  office  is 
located,    has    been    fully    apprised    of   the 


situation  and,  with  the  cooperation  of  the 
teachers  there,  efforts  are  being  made  as 
never  before  to  get  the  boys  and  girls  to 
consult  the  placement  counselors  before 
they  voluntarily  quit  any  jobs  they  now 
may  have.  By  such  measures  as  these  it  is 
hoped  that  some  of  the  threatening  unem- 
ployment among  junior  workers  may  be 
prevented. 

National  Committee  for  Menial  Hygiene 

In  the  September,  1926,  "News  Notes" 
column  of  this  Journal  appeared  an  out- 
line of  some  of  the  major  activities  engaged 
in  by  the  National  Committee  for  Mental 
Hygiene.  Most  of  these  projects  were 
phrased  in  the  future  tense  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  publication  of  the  article 
coincided  closely  with  the  beginning  of  a 
new  fiscal  year  of  the  Mental  Hygiene  or- 
ganization. A  report  of  personnel  or  re- 
search activities  for  1926-1927  of  the  Na- 
tional Committee  for  Mental  Hj-giene  must 
be  given  over  largely  to  an  account  of  the 
intensive  development  of  the  pieces  of  work 
outlined  a  year  ago,  for  little  wholly  new 
work  has  been  undertaken. 

Thus,  it  is  now  possible  to  say  that  the 
"Institute  for  Child  Guidance"  annoimced 
a  year  ago  as  "about  to  be  opened"  has 
since  become  a  reality  and  is  in  full  opera- 
tion at  o7th  Street  and  Lexington  Avenue, 
New  York  City,  under  the  Directorship  of 
Dr.  Lawson  G.  Lower j'.  It  will  be  recalled 
that  the  principle  aims  of  the  Institute  as 
announced  were: 

1.  To  make  possible  further  study  and 

research  in  the  field  of  mental  hy- 
giene for  children,  with  special 
reference  to  the  causes  and  methods 
of  treatment  of  behavior  problems. 

2.  To  provide  facilities  for  the  training  of 

psychiatrists  and  graduate  psy- 
chologists in  practical  child-guid- 
ance work. 

3.  To    provide    field    training    in    child 

guidance  for  students  in  psychiatric 
social  work. 

4.  To  afford  adequate  clinical   facilities 

for  the  thorough  study  and  treat- 
ment of  children  presenting  problems 
in  behavior  and  mental  hygiene. 


News  Notes 


317 


Already  definite  research  work  at  the 
Institute  has  been  outlined  and  already  a 
number  of  Fellows  in  psychiatry,  in  psy- 
chology and  psychiatric  social  work  are 
actively  working  under  Fellowship  grants 
made  possible  by  the  Commonwealth  Fund 
and  administered  by  the  National  Com- 
mittee for  Mental  Hygiene.  Altogether 
five  fellowships  for  training  in  extramural 
psychiatry  have  been  made  availa'ile  at  the 
Institute  for  child  guidance  to  properly 
qualified  candidates.  Two  of  these  at  the 
time  of  writing  remain  unfilled.  Three 
more  fellowships  in  clinical  psychology  at 
the  Institute  have  been  filled.  In  addition 
to  these  fellowships  the  National  Commit- 
tee for  Mental  Hygiene  is  administering  a 
number  of  others  made  possible  by  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  for  training  in 
extramural  psychiatry,  but  using,  in 
general,  training  centers  other  than  the 
Institute.  Up  to  the  present  time  a  total 
of  twenty-one  fellowships  in  extramural 
psychiatry  have  l:>een  awarded  by  the 
National  Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene. 

In  the  1926  report  of  the  activities  of  the 
National  Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene 
mention  was  made  of  the  development  of 
advisory  services  to  colleges  and  other 
institutions  of  higher  learning.  This  work 
has  gone  oa  apace  and  is  being  intensively 
cultivated  in  several  universities.  Out- 
standing has  been  the  demonstration  in 
Mental  Hygiene  at  Yale  I'niversity  where  a 
large  resident  stafl  aided  by  several  con- 
sultants is  engaged  in  an  elaborate  program. 
Modifications  of  the  methods  in  use  at  Yale 
are  being  worked  out  in  numerous  other 
colleges  and  universities,  among  them  the 
University  of  Vermont,  Washburn  College, 
Kansas,  the  University  of  Minnesota. 
Likewise,  Culver  Military  Academy  has  had 
for  the  past  three  years  a  resident  psy- 
chiatrist,— the  only  private  school,  so  far 
as  is  known,  to  utilize  psychiatric  facilities 
on  such  a  scale.  More  and  more  in  this 
connection  are  educators  coming  to  realize 
that  the  possession  or  the  development  of  a 
high  I.Q.  is  no  guarantee  of  a  student's 
ability  to  cope  with  some  of  the  realities  of 
life;  that  the  winning  of  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
key  is  not  necessarily  an  insurance  against 


an  emotional  l)reakdown  precipitated  by 
the  necessity  for  dealing  successfully  with 
the  bereavement  of  a  loved  one,  an  unsuc- 
cessful marriage,  ordinary  business  com- 
petition, or  even  the  loss  of  money.  As  a 
result  the  mental  health  of  the  student  and 
an  opportunity  for  aiding  him  to  effect  an 
adequate  emotional  development  as  well  as 
a  brilliant  intellectual  one  are  matters  con- 
cerning faculties  of  colleges  in  increasing 
instances. 

The  National  Committee  for  Mental 
Hygiene  has  aided  and  is  aiding  with  grow- 
ing frequency  schools  of  various  kinds  in  the 
establishment  of  Mental  Hygiene  services. 
Not  all  colleges  are  ready  for  such  facilities, 
however,  and  it  becomes  necessary  in  not  a 
few  instances  temporarily  to  discourage 
premature,  if  enthusiastic,  efforts  to  estab- 
lish services  of  this  kind  at  institutions 
where  the  proper  groundwork  has  not  yet 
been  laid. 

During  the  year  the  National  Committee 
for  Mental  Hygiene  undertook  an  extensive 
survey  of  conditions  of  mental  deficiency  in 
Vermont  at  the  request  of  the  Governor  and 
several  private  agencies  in  that  state.  The 
scope  of  the  study  embraced  conditions  of 
mental  defect  in  four  representative  types 
of  communities:  (1)  rural  village,  C2)  small 
town,  (3)  industrial  town,  and  (4)  the  larg- 
est city  (Burlington).  The  study  was 
unique  in  that  not  only  were  group  and 
individual  psychometric  examinations 
made,  Ijut  a  large  number  of  psj'chiatric 
examinations  likewise  were  made  as  well 
as  the  conduction  of  many  family  studies 
by  the  psychiatrist  and  the  psychiatric 
social  workers.  A  number  of  significant 
findings  resulted  from  the  survey,  indicat- 
ing the  need  for  a  coordinated  and  central- 
ized state  program  of  care  and  training  for 
mental  defectives,  largely  on  an  extra  in- 
stitutional basis. 

The  gradual  penetration  of  Mental 
Hygiene  into  the  field  of  public  health 
nursing  was  expedited  by  the  placing  of  an 
experienced  psychiatric  social  worker  on 
the  staff  of  the  Henry  Street  Settlement 
(nursing  organization)  in  New  York  City 
at  the  latter's  request.  This  psychiatric 
social   worker    accompanies   many    of    the 


318 


News  Notes 


visiting  nurses  on  their  rounds  and  aids  in 
pointing  out  problems  encountered  that 
may  be  complicated  by  psj'chiatric  factors. 
She  also  participates  in  staff  conferences 
and  assists  nurses  to  bring  clinical  help  to 
bear  on  suital)le  problems. 

Another  project  of  much  importance  is 
found  in  the  conduction  of  an  extensive 
study  of  mental  hygiene  facilities  and  needs 
in  New  York  CitJ^  An  unknown  but 
doubtless  large  amount  of  Mental  Hygiene 
work,  both  educational  and  clinical,  is 
going  on  in  the  metropolis  and  the  aim  of 
this  study  is  to  ascertain  what  the  present 
situation  may  be  as  well  as  to  devise  a 
program  for  meeting  needs  in  a  systematic 
way.  To  this  effect  the  New  York  City 
Committee  on  Mental  Hygiene  of  the  State 
Charities  Aid  Association  appealed  to  the 
National  Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene 
for  a  study  of  this  kind.  The  latter  organ- 
ization voted  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  for 
a  twelve  months'  survey  and  work  is  to 
begin  shortly. 

University  of  Pittsburgh,   Research  Bureau 
for  Retail  Training 

From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Di- 
rector— a  mimeographed  booklet  of  31 
pages — we  quote  the  following  lists  of 
projects  in  work  and  projects  completed: 

Projects  in  work 

1.  The   cooperative   exchange   of   labor 

turnover  figures. 

2.  Pension  plans  in  department  stores. 

3.  Rating  scales  for  floormen. 

4.  The  personnel  inventory. 

5.  Payment     methods     in     department 

stores. 

6.  A  program  of  training  for  ready-to- 

wear  departments. 

7.  Suggestions,    sketches,    etc.,    for  the 

interior  decoration  and  furnishings 
of  the  Bureau  rooms  in  the  new 
Cathedral  of  Learning. 

8.  Organization  and   administration   of 

training  in  commerce  and  industry. 

9.  Sales  personnel   program  for  Stude- 

baker   Corporation. 
10.  Methods,   selection,   and    training  in 
credit  offices. 


11.  Standardization  and  measures  of  pro- 

duction in  the  central  wrap 
department. 

12.  Revision    of   the    manual,    "How   to 

Handle  Salespeople." 

13.  Standards  of  service — the   establish- 

ment of  minimum  standards  in 
various  aspects  of  store  service. 

14.  Psj^chology  for  salespeople. 

15.  A  study  of  assurance  of  improvement. 

16.  Training    on    the    job    for    assistant 

buyers. 

17.  Annual  survey  of  average  education 

of    department    store    employees. 

18.  Organization  and   administration   of 

training. 

Projects  completed 

1.  Improvement  of  packing  in  a  certain 

store. 

2.  A     statistical     study     of     character 

analysis. 

3.  Rating  scales  for  salespeople. 

4.  Publication  of  the  staff  book  "  Person- 

nel Research  in  Department 
Stores." 

5.  A  predictive  barometer  for  the  sales 

of  department  stores  in  Pittsburgh. 

6.  Glossary  and  chart  of  seasonal  colors 

for  Spring   1927. 

7.  Bibliography    of    art    principles    ap- 

plied to  merchandise  (costume  art, 
color  and  design,  interior  deco- 
ration). 

8.  Preliminary  report — organization  and 

administration  of  training  in  retail 
stores. 

9.  Interesting    executives    in    training. 

10.  Progress  reports  on  training. 

11.  Training    program    and    manual    for 

Studebaker  Factory  salesmen. 

12.  A  study  of  methods  of  sorting  pack- 

ages in  the  internal  delivery 
department. 

13.  A  study  of  the  causes  of  the  return  of 

merchandise  in  Pittsburgh. 

14.  Compilation    of    the    standards    of 

Bureau  procedure. 

15.  Direction  of  student  research. 

16.  A   manual    on   methods   of   teaching 

technique  of  selling. 

17.  A  plan  of  procedure  for  giving  train- 


News  Notes 


319 


ing  to  Y.  W.  C.  A.  solicitors  of  the 
University. 

18.  A  series  of  salesmanship  articles  for 

the  Dry  Goods  Trade  Journal. 

19.  Playlets — compilation  of  playlets  for 

use  in  department  stores. 

20.  Suggestive  selling  playlet — outlining 

in  detail  of  a  plan  and  devices  for 
increasing  the  interest  of  sales- 
people in  suggestive  selling. 

21.  Studebaker     study — compilation     of 

difficulties  and  recording  of  duties 
connected  with  the  wholesale  dis- 
tribution of  Studebaker  cars. 

22.  Suggestions  for  dictators  in  depart- 

ment stores. 

23.  Methods  of  measuring  the  effect  of 

personnel  work. 

24.  Manual  on  methods  of  teaching  mer- 

chandise information. 

25.  Supervision  of  an  executive  training 

course   in   four   Pittsburgh   stores. 

26.  Revision  of  shoe  manual. 

27.  Revision      of      "Store      Language" 

lessons. 

28.  Service  shopping  in  eleven  Pittsburgh 

stores  (survey  of  1927  shoppings  in 
selling,  delivery,  cashiering  and 
special  services). 

29.  Organization  and  maintenance  of  the 

progressive  retailing  course. 

30.  A  study  of  the  training  a  store  should 

have  in  the  fields  of  econom- 
ics, English,  accountancy  and  psy- 
chology. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
Personnel  Division 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 
of  this  country  employ  5148  secretaries  at 
the  present  time.  They  maintain  three 
colleges  for  training  secretaries,  as  well  as 
nine  summer  schools,  and  a  great  variety  of 
local  training  projects.  They  have  de- 
veloped a  system  of  death  benefit  insurance, 
and  a  Retirement  Fund  operating  under  the 
insurance  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
The  Association  movement  has  all  of  the 
problems  faced  by  similar  organizations, 
and  its  personnel  studies  take  a  course 
similar  to  that  others  have  taken.  Its 
Personnel  Division  of  the  National  Council 
has  been  organized  less  than  three  years 


and  formal  research  activities  have  been 
under  waj^  less  than  two  years. 

We  have  defined  our  plans  for  research 
more  clearly  during  the  last  year.  A  vital 
decision  was  reached  when  it  was  deter- 
mined that  functions  of  the  national  re- 
search efforts  should  include  a  living  rela- 
tionship with  all  personnel  research  within 
the  Movement  as  well  as  the  studies  carried 
on  within  our  own  staff.  Conferences  with 
other  Divisions  of  the  national  organization 
and  with  the  three  training  colleges  have 
helped  prepare  for  a  periodical  sharing  of 
progress  and  more  economical  administra- 
tion of  further  research. 

What  the  entire  group  Association 
agencies  have  been  doing  is  more  or  less 
definitely  reflected  in  the  statement  below. 
We  shall  first  include  projects  begun  and 
completed  during  the  early  period  of  a  little 
more  than  a  year;  projects  upon  which  work 
is  continuing;  and  finally  some  new 
projects. 

A  statistical  study  of  older  rating  pro- 
cedures was  made  and  a  graphic  rating  scale 
constructed  for  use  in  indicating  ability  to 
succeed,  especially  where  records  must  be 
carried  beyond  local  contacts. 

The  validity  of  the  plan  of  "certifying" 
new  secretaries  after  a  probationary  year, 
after  being  in  operation  for  five  j-ears,  was 
made  the  subject  of  statistical  study. 
Processes  of  selecting  candidates  for  the 
secretaryship  received  considerable  atten- 
tion. Significant  personal  history  items  in 
the  case  of  172  general  secretaries  formed 
one  study.  Eighteen  selection  practices 
used  with  108  new  entrants  was  another. 
Selective  entrance  tests  were  given  at  two 
Association  Colleges.  One  College  lifted 
its  standard  to  a  graduate  basis.  Another 
studied  personal  history  data  in  an  effort  to 
get  better  criteria  of  entrance.  Extensive 
study  of  the  whole  testing  field  has  been 
made  to  seek  a  battery  especially  useful  in 
the  selection  of  secretaries.  At  Association 
College,  Chicago,  a  conference  of  nation- 
ally known  experts  was  called  to  advise 
upon  such  testing  procedures.  At  this 
college  also  some  special  tests  of  physical 
indices  are  under  way.  With  Professor 
Strong  of  Stanford  a  test  of  the  interests  of 
secretaries  has  been  made.     The  secretary 


320 


News  Notes 


at  his  work  has  been  studied  by  means  of 
job  analysis.  Such  analysis  of  the  student 
secretaryship  has  been  completed,  as  well 
ag  an  elaborate  job  analysis  of  twenty- 
seven  executives  of  one  of  the  largest  metro- 
politan Associations  as  a  doctor's  disserta- 
tion written  under  Professor  Charters. 
Three  city  Association  staffs  have  de- 
veloped job  analyses  under  a  different 
technique,  and  a  general  study  through 
correspondence  contacts  w.-^s  attempted. 

A  personnel  survey  of  the  New  York  City 
Association  was  carried  on  in  connection 
with  a  general  survey  of  their  work  by  an 
outside  commission  and  staff. 

Testing  procedures  continue  to  receive 
attention,  further  local  experiments  are  in 
contemplation,  the  results  of  which  together 
with  those  of  the  three  colleges  will  be  used 
in  wider  applications.  A  study  of  voca- 
tional guidance  philosophies  has  been  under 
way,  experiments  have  been  carried  on  in 
large  student  conferences  to  determine  the 
Imsis  of  a  sound  approach  to  the  question 
of  motivation  in  vocational  adjustment, 
and  one  joint  conference  between  Associa- 
tions recruiting  representatives  and  the 
colleges  of  Ohio  has  been  held  to  devise 
plans  for  making  recruiting  and  placement 
procedure  scientific  and  effective. 

Some  work  has  been  done  on  the  develop- 
ment of  a  basic  record  system,  studj^ing 
other  systems  in  operation  to  determine 
suital;Ie  plans  for  our  unique  needs. 

The  job  analysis  work  begun  last  year  is 
being  expanded  and  refined  to  throw  light 
upon  improved  administration  and  content 
of  the  training  curriculum.  It  will  be 
carried  into  new  areas  also.  A  beginning 
at  writing  position  specifications  is  Ijeing 
made. 

One  tenure  study  of  a  specific  group  has 
been  completed  and  an  extension  is  being 
planned.  Effects  of  a  national  Retirement 
Fund  Plan  which  has  been  in  operation  for 
five  years  are  being  studied.  A  statistical 
survey  of  personnel  in  two  regions  of  several 
states  each  has  been  made  for  comparative 
purposes.  Preliminary  facts  have  ijeen 
gathered  upon  a  .study  of  bases  of  salary 
administration,  looking  to  a  more  complete 
study  soon  to  begin,  in  which  the  Chicago 
College  will  lead.     A  beginning  has  been 


made  in  studying  secretarial  achievement, 
and  a  longer  study  is  planned  at  Chicago 
College.  Placements  and  the  promotion 
sequences  of  932  secretaries  form  another 
study  which  attempts  to  ascertain  whether 
there  are  patterns  now  in  operation.  A 
statistical  study  of  the  physical  directorship 
is  being  made  in  the  light  of  trends  in 
physical  education.  The  college  at  Spring- 
field is  giving  special  assistance. 

Studies  in  training  include  a  survey  of 
the  educational  and  administrative  aspects 
of  the  nine  Association  summer  schools  just 
completed,  from  which  some  far  reaching 
further  studies  are  likely  to  proceed;  studies 
looking  to  the  complete  reorganization  of 
training  curricula  in  the  three  colleges, 
notably  in  Southern  College  at  Nashville; 
a  study  of  best  methods  of  local  staff 
training  on  the  job,  and  the  possibili- 
ties of  guided  project-training  for  men  at 
work. 

Study  has  been  given  to  the  development 
of  a  professional  "code  of  ethics;"  a  leader- 
ship has  been  given  to  two  local  personnel 
surveys. 

In  addition  to  carrying  on  work  on  the 
above  projects,  the  coming  year  calls  for 
central  emphasis  upon  construction  and 
setting  into  operation  of  a  complete  basis 
record  system;  a  national  canvass  of  in- 
dividual in-service  secretarial  studj'  in 
adjacent  universities;  a  new  study  of  the 
relation  of  tenure  and  efficiency;  and  a 
special  study  of  the  secretaryship  in  smaller 
cities.  The  relation  of  laymen  will  also 
be  given  fresh  attention  through  the  study 
of  a  series  of  cases  and  experimental 
projects. 

The  research  in  personnel  proceeds  from 
the  point  of  view  that  all  secretaries  in  ser- 
vice should  be  sympathetically  related  to 
some  phase  of  research  for  the  sake  of  what 
it  will  do  to  their  thinking.  While  thus 
"popularizing"  research  through  a  long 
series  of  "state  personnel  study  groups" 
close  contacts  have  been  kept  with  special- 
izing research  agencies,  and  rigid  scientific 
standards  are  followed  so  far  as  possible. 

Columbia  University 

Mr.  Roy  N.  Anderson  has  been  appointed 
assistant    in    Guidance    and    Personnel    at 


News  Notes 


321 


Teachers  College,  Columbia  University. 
Mr.  Anderson  was  formerly  director  of  the 
Employment  Bureau  at  the  University  of 
Denver. 

A  new  course,  Field  Work  in  Guidance 
and  Personnel,  has  been  instituted  in  the 
university.  In  this  course  students  are 
assigned  to  vocational  guidance  agencies  in 
the  city  where  they  serve  as  apprentices 
while  receiving  their  theoretical  training  at 
the  university. 

Another  innovation  is  a  course  in  re- 
search in  personnel  offered  jointly  by  Dr. 
H.  D.  Kitson,  Dr.  Paul  F.  Brissenden  and 
Dr.  A.  T.  Poffenberger,  representing  all  the 
divisions  of  the  university  interested  in 
personnel  problems. 

AXNUAL  CORPORATE  MEETING  OF  PERSONNE'J 
RESEARCH    FEDERATION 

At  the  Third  Annual  Corporate  Me-g^j^g 
of  the  Personnel  Research  Federat'^^jj  qjj 
October  1,  1927,  the  following  wer^  gjggj-g^j 
to  the  Administrative  Board  to  Sgj.yg  f^j.  g_ 
term  of  three  years : 

Frankwood  E.  Williams,  .^vledical  Di- 
rector, National  Commit  (.gg  f^j.  Mental 
Hygiene 

Glenn  A.   Bowera,   Indi^gtrial   Relations 

Counselors,  Inc. 
Raymond  P.  Kaighn,  Personnel  Division 

of  the  National  Cc^^ncii  ^f  ^he  Y.  M. 

C.  A.'s  of  the  Uni  tgjj  g^^tes 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Administrative  Board 
on  the  same  day,  the-  following  officers  were 
elected  for  the  year  1927-28' 
President,  Alfred  j)   p^jajj 
Vice   Presidents,     ^vilUam   Green,    John 

Goss,  and  Doe^^i,!  gcott 
Secretary,  H.  Ij    q^^.^^ 
Treasurer,  Frar^^-^  jj   sigg^n 
Assistant  Treaf.,^j.gj.^  ^gi^jj  talker 
Director,  ^\ .  ^^    Bingham 
Executive  Cor^j^i^tee,  Alfred  D.  Flinn, 
W.  V.  Bingl^ajjj^  L   J.  O'Rourke,  Mrs. 
Mary    H.    £.     Hayes,    and    Glenn    A. 
Bowers 
It  was   voted^    ^^^^  the   President   and 
Director  be  aut'^orized  to  appoint  a  com- 
mittee of  three  1  .^  g^^^jy  ^^e  broad  question 
of  organization  ^g^tjgj.gl^ip^  ^^^^^  g^g^  and 
to  report  back  t  ^  ^^^g  Administrative  Board. 


SWISS    PAPERS    ON    SCIENTIFIC    MAN.^GE'.jeNT    , 

The  Swiss  Commission  for  P.cientific 
Management  is  editing  a  series  o'[  ^gn  pro- 
fessional studies.  The  first  '-'The  Psy- 
chology of  Teaching  and  of  Training  in 
Economic  Life,"  by  Dr.  E.  (jarrard,  lecturer 
on  Industrial  Psychol^,gy  at  the  Federal 
Technical  Institute  [-.^  Zurich,  has  already 
been  published,  phis  pamphlet  is  es- 
pecially interesting  as  showing  the  theory 
and  practice  of  teaching  on  a  psychological 
basis  by  -three  illustrations  taken  from 
practicf^l  nfg.  t^g  first  chapter  deals  with 
^'^^  'training  of  sewing  women  in  a  shoe 
ff,ctory;  the  second  with  the  rational  in- 
struction of  tramway  drivers  in  a  municipal 
concern;  the  third  with  the  improvement  of 
qualified  workers  in  metal.  In  the  intro- 
duction, A.  Biihler,  Swiss  wholesale  manu- 
facturer, expresses  his  conviction  "that 
Industrial  Psychology  on  the  lines  pursued 
by  the  Institute  in  Zurich  is  bound  to  render 
great  services  to  national  economics." 

The  apprentices  at  Biihler's  concern, 
trained  with  the  help  of  Dr.  Carrard,  "have 
learnt  to  do  in  a  fraction  of  the  time  pre- 
viously necessary,  work  of  high  value  in 
quantity  as  well  as  quality.  Their  work  is 
more  than  30  per  cent  superior  to  that  of 
previous  apprentices,  and,  as  Dr.  Biihler 
explains,  a  consideration  which  we  think 
equally  important  is  that  ''they  work  with 
/Visible    pleasure." 

The  other  books  of  the  Zurich  series 
which  are  now  in  preparation  will  deal  with 
the  following  subjects: 

No.  2.  The  Prediction  of  Market  Con- 
ditions and  Economic  Ration- 
alisation (Dr.  Bernet). 

No.  3.  On  the  Psychology  of  Work 
(Suter-Carrard). 

No.  4.  The  Service  of  Customers  (A. 
Jakoby) . 

No.  5.  The  Hygiene  of  Work  (Prof.  v. 
Gonzenbach). 

No.  6.  The  Psychology  of  Advertising 
(Rohwald). 

No.  7.  An  Analysis  of  Costs  (A. 
Walther). 

No.  8.  The  Fundamental  Features  of 
Industrial  Psychology  (Suter). 


:^22 


News  Notes 


Ko.     9.  Industrial  Cooperation  and  Ra- 
tionalisation (Eng.  H.  de  Gisi). 
No.   10.  Standardization   (H.  Zollinger). 
^—Bulletin  of  the  Inlernalional 
Management  InstitiUe 

ELIMINATION      OP'      FATIGUE      IN      INDUSTRY 

The  Journal  hsLI  Just  received  the 
printed  report  of  the  summer  school  held 
at  Baveno,  Italy,  last  Jun?  on  the  subject 
of  the  Elimination  of  Unnecessary  Fatigue 
in  Industry.  This  little  \-o\\iIP^  of  129 
pages  is  one  which  all  who  are  inte*?sted  in 
industrial  fatigue  will  want  to  have.  1^  ^^^ 
be  obtained  from  Miss  E.  Brenda  VoySv*^y> 
Javastraat  66,  The  Hague,  Holland.  The 
price  is  1.50  Holland  florins  (about  60  cents). 

FELLOWSHIP   APPOINTMENTS 

Among  the  eighteen  appointments  for  the 
year  1927-1928  recently  announced  by  the 
Fellowship  Committee  of  the  Social  Science 
Research  Council  are  six  which,  because  of 
the  topics  selected  for  investigation,  may 
be  of  special  interest  to  readers  of  the 
Personnel   Journal: 

Emily  Clark  Brown,  M.A.,  Chicago, 
Research  Assistant,  University  of  Chicago. 
Project:  Industrial  Relations  in  the  Print- 
ing Trades  in  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain.  Place  of  Study:  New  York, 
Boston,  Baltimore. 

William  T.  Ham,  Ph.D.,  Harvard,  In- 
structor and  Tutor  in  Economics  at  Har- 
vard and  Radcliffe.  Project:  Industrial 
Relations  in  the  Building  Trades  in  Great 
Britain  and  Germany.  Place  of  Study: 
Great  Britain,  Germany,  France. 

Leonard  Manyon,  B.A.,  Instructor  in 
History,  University  of  Michigan.  Project: 
The  Guild  Movement  in  Italy  under  the 
Fascist    Regime.     Place    of    Study:  Italy. 

Jacob  Perlman,  Ph.D.,  Wisconsin, 
Assistant  Professor  in  Economics,  North- 
western University.  Project:  The  De- 
velopment of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomo- 
tive Engineers  with  Special  Reference  to  the 
Transition  to  the  New  Unionism.  Place  of 
Study:  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Helen  L.  Witmer,  Ph.D.,  Wisconsin, 
Assistant  Professor,  Social  Hygiene  Re- 
search, University  of  Minnesota.  Project: 
Some   EfTects   of   the    English   Social    In- 


surance Acts  on  Pauperism.  Place  of 
Stud  J':  London. 

Heinrich  Kiuver,  Ph.D.,  Stanford,  In- 
structor in  Psychology,  University  of  Min- 
nesota. Project:  The  Eidetic  Type:  Field 
Studies  in  Various  American  Communities. 
Place  of  Study:  Columbia  University. 

The  following  holders  of  similar  fellow- 
ships during  the  past  year  were  engaged  on 
problems  related  to  personnel  research: 

Carter  L.  Goodrich,  Ph.D.,  Chicago, 
Assistant  Professor  of  Economics  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.  Proj- 
ect: A  comparative  and  genetic  study  of 
the  Australian  Labor  Movement. 

Lawrence  R.  Guild,  M.A.,  Yale,  Profes- 
sor of  Economics,  Tusculum  College, 
^reeneville,  Tenn.  Project:  Labor  con- 
jjj^ions  in  the  American  small  town,  with 
gpepjal  reference  to  Ohio. 

gyj>ia  Kopald,  Ph.D.,  Columbia, 
Teacher  research  worker,  and  journalist, 
New  Yon^'  ^-  ^-  Project:  An  approach 
to  the  prob'^n^  of  democracy  and  leadership 
in  trade  unii-^'^^'  through  an  analysis  of  the 
left-wine  mo'^^™^'^^  ^^  ^^®  needle  trades. 

Walter  Rice  ^^*^P'  Docteur  en  Droit, 
Bordeaux  Assis'*^^^  Professor  of  Political 
Science,  University  "^  Wisconsin,  Madison, 
Wis.  Project:  A  s^^^dy  of  the  problems  of 
personnel  adminis',*'"a*ion  in  the  public 
service  of  selected  European  states,  with 
special  reference  to    I^^'^^ce. 

Sterling  D.  Sperd'  ^^.D.,  Columbia, 
Fellow,  New  School  ^o^  Social  Research, 
New  York,  N.  Y.  PrOJect:  The  position 
of  the  negro  in  industry 

Inquiry  regarding  lOpportumties  for 
appointment  to  similar  rt^search  fellowships 
for  next  year  may  be  addrf  ^^^^^  ^o  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Committee  on  fellowships  of  the 
Social  Science  Research  C  ^^^c^l'  Professor 
F.  Stuart  Chapin,  Universi  *y  ^^  Minnesota, 

Minneapolis. 

1 

A   NEW   BIBLIOGRAPHY   O^    CHARACTER 

The  Sci-Art  Publishers,  I^arvard  Square, 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  annour'^^  "^^  Inter- 
national Classified  Biblio^.-^'^Phy  ^^  ^^*'■- 
acter  and  Personality,"  cc'^^Pi^^^  ^^  ^'■• 
A.  A.  Roback.  The  volum'^  contains  over 
3000  items.  The  edition  is*  limited  to  350 
copies  for  the  American  ma 


Current  Periodicals 


Prepared  by  Linda  H,  Morley,  Industrial  Relations  Counselors,  Inc. 

Note:  Numbers  appearing  after  magazine  titles  indicate  the  volume  and 
page  and  are  followed  by  the  date. 


ABSENTEEISM 

Reber,  B.  C.  Checking  the  casual  ab- 
sence. Office  Economist,  ix:  7,  14,  July- 
August,  1927. 

How  one  concern  solved  a  problem  that 
confronted  it  and  regulated  relaxation 
periods  to  improve  work.  Most  concerns 
prefer  a  definite  period  in  which  the  en- 
tire office  force  can  freshen  up  at  one 
time. 

ARBITRATION 

Mackenzie,  Sir  William,  K.B.E.,  K.C., 
President  of  the  Industrial  Court.  In- 
dustrial arbitration.  Journal  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  Ixxi:  433-^48, 
May  11,  1923. 


Conover,  John  L.,  auditor,  gas  depart- 
ment, Public  Service  Electric  and  Gas 
Company,  Newark,  N.  J.  Extra  in- 
centive wage  plan  for  bill  clerks.  Man- 
agement, 29:  56,  August,  1927. 

BUDGETS — personal 

Houghteling,  Leila.  Budget  of  the  un- 
skilled laborer.  Social  Service  Review, 
i:  1-35,  March,   1927. 

DISABLED — bibliography 

Employment  for  the  handicapped:  a  se- 
lected bibliography,  supplementing 
Library  Bulletin  no.  21,  February,  1927. 
Bulletin  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation 
Library,  84:  August,  1927.     4  p. 

DISCOUNT — EMPLOYEES 

How  eighteen  concerns  handle  the  courtesy 
sales  problem:  discounts  to   employees. 


Sales    Management,     13:  291-2,    August 
20,  1927. 

EDUCATION 

Henderson,  L.  J.  Business  education  as 
envisaged  by  the  scientist.  Harvard 
Business  Review,  5:  420-3,  July,  1927. 

Walker,  P.  F.  Education  for  the  in- 
dustries. Mechanical  Engineering,  49: 
889-92;  Discussion  892;  August,  1927. 

EMPLOYEE   REPRESENTATION 

Some  practical  pointers  on  employee  repre- 
sentation. Law  and  Labor,  9:  221-223, 
August,  1927. 

EMPLOYMENT  DEPARTMENTS — RECORDS 

MacDonald,  J.  H.,  Assistant  Professor, 
New  York  University.  Economy  and 
control  of  personnel.  Forms.  Office 
Economist,  IX:  3-4,  10,  12,  13,  July- 
August,  1927. 

EXECUTIVES 

FoLLETT,  M.  P.  Basis  of  control  in  busi- 
ness management.  Journal  of  the  Na- 
tional Institute  of  Industrial  Psychology, 
III:  233-241,  January,  1927. 

Williams,  Whiting,  counselor  in  industrial 
and  public  relations,  Cleveland.  What's 
on  executive's  mind?  1.  To  be  or  not 
to  be  a  militarist?  2.  To  be  or  not  to  be 
the  man  nobody  noes?  Management, 
29:  38-40,  6&-68;  38-41,  August,  1927; 
September,  1927. 

FEEBLE-MINDED 

Raymond,  C.  Stanley,  assistant  super- 
intendent. State  School,  Waverly,  Mass. 
Industrial    possibilities    of    the    feeble- 


323 


324 


Current  Periodicals 


minded.     Industrial  Psychology,  II:  473- 
478,  September,  1927. 

Lists  possible  occupations  at  the  vari- 
ous mental  age  levels. 

FOKEMANSHIP 

FoRDHAM,  T.  B.,  works  manager,  Delco 
Light  Co.,  Dayton,  Ohio  and  president 
National  Association  of  P'oremen.  Fore- 
man and  his  job.  Society  of  Industrial 
Engineers  Bulletin,  9:  3-10,  September, 
1927. 

GROUP   I.VSURAXCE 

Foster,  E.  T.  Development  of  group  life 
insurance.  Commerce  Monthly,  9:  3-10, 
September,  1927. 

H«URS — FIVE-D.iY    WEEK 

Young,  Arthur  H.,  Industrial  Relations 
Counselors,  Inc.,  X.  Y.  C.  Five-day 
week.  Society  of  Industrial  Engineers 
Bulletin,  9:  3-10,  July,  1927. 

Address  delivered  at  S.  I.  E.  conven- 
tion, Chicago,  May  26,  1927. 

INXENTIVES 

Howard,  Russell  E.  Reward — a  power- 
ful influence.  Industrial  Psychology, 
2:  523-525,  October,  1927. 

JOB    .A.NAJ.YSIS 

Browx,  Geoffrey  C,  consulting  engineer. 

Workers'    participation    in    job    study. 

American      Federationist,      34:  702-710, 

June,  1927. 
Geissler,  Dr.  L.  R.     Job-analysis  values 

for  emploj-er   and  employe.     Industrial 

Psychology,  II:  4.53-458,  September,  1927. 

JOB    ANALYSIS — TEXTILE    TRADE 

Geissler,  Dr.  L.  R.  Job-analysis  in  the 
textile  industry.  Industrial  Psychology, 
2:  517-522,  October,  1927. 

JOINT  RELATIONS 

Harrington.  JohnWaxker.  Human  con- 
trol board.  Management,  29:  31-34,  68, 
August,  1927. 

A  glance  at  the  board  shows  what  every 
one  of  the  600  permanent  employees  of 
the  Turner  Construction  Company  is 
doing  and  what  is  his  ne.xt  step  up. 


LoEB,  W.  Object  of  an  industrial  relations 
program.  Mining  Congress  Journal,  13: 
500-1,  July,  1927. 

Young,  Owen  D.,  chairman  of  the  board. 
General  Electric  Co.,  X.  Y.  C.  New 
labor  philosophy.  Management,  29:  27- 
30,  74^76,  Octolier,  1927. 

What  the  head  of  a  ten  billion  dollar 
industry  believes  to  be  the  new  relation- 
ship between  capital  and  labor;  an  inter- 
view by  J.  George  Frederick. 

LABOR   LEGISLATION 

Fitch,  John  A.,  Xew  York  School  of  Social 
Work.  "An  oasis  that  is  full  of  promise." 
American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  15: 
242-244. 

Lapp,  John  A.,  president.  National  Con- 
ference of  Social  Work.  Do  prosperity 
and  welfare  work  in  America  make  un- 
necessary the  establishment  of  protective 
labor  standards?  American  Labor  Legis- 
lation Review,  17:  225-232,  September, 
1927. 

WoLMAN,  Leo,  New  School  for  Social  Re- 
search. Frontiers  of  social  control. 
American  Legislation  Review,  15:  233- 
241,  September,  1927. 

labor — productivity 

Thompson,  Saxford  E.,  president,  Thomp- 
son and  Lichtner  Co.,  Inc.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Measuring  labor's  productivity.  Ameri- 
can Federationist,  34:  711-716,  June, 
1927. 

labor — st.^tistics 

United  States  Labor  Statistics  Bureau 
Handbook  of  labor  statistics,  1924-1926. 
Bulletin  439,  1927.     828  p. 

length  of  service 

Long,  C.  R.  Is  the  rolling  stone  always 
wrong?  Advertising  and  Selling,  9: 
27+,  July  27,  1927. 

libraries — methods 

Morton,  Chester  H.  Keeping  the  maga- 
zines circulating.  ^lanagement,  29:  60- 
62,  October,  1927. 

Simple  but  effective  system  enables 
each  executive  to  get  trade  magazines 
when  he  can  give  them  his  attention. 


Current  Periodicals 


325 


MENTAL  HYGIENE 

Anderson,  Dr.  V.  V.,  director  of  medical 

research,  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.,  New  York 

City.     Psychiatry     in     mercantile     life. 

Human    Factor,    III:  1-3,    January    15, 

1927. 
Dixon,  Ronald  F.    How  the  mental  clinic 

saves   the   worker.     Industrial   Psj^chol- 

ogy,  2:  507-513,  October,  1927. 
Description    of    work    of    psychiatric 

department  of  R.  H.  Macy  and  Company, 

N.  Y. 
Read,  T.  T.     Some  immaterial  problems  of 

industry.    Mining    and    Metallurgj',    8: 

383-5,  September,  1927.    . 


Pheby,  Ernest.  Hidden  factors  affecting 
efficiency.  Society  of  Industrial  En- 
gineers Bulletin,  9:  22-25,  September, 
1927. 

Silence  means  contentment  and  com- 
fort. 

Spooner,  Professor  Henry  J.,  C.E., 
F.G.S.,  London,  England,  member  of 
S.  I.  E.  Fatigue  Committee,  director  of 
the  Polytechnic  School  of  Engineering, 
London,  1882-1922.  Progress  of  the 
movement  for  the  reduction  of  noise. 
Appendix,  for  reference  purposes,  brief 
record  of  Professor  Spooner's  activities 
in  the  cause  of  the  prevention  or  reduc- 
tion of  noise.  Society  of  Industrial 
Engineers  Bulletin,  9-13-22,  September, 
1927. 

ONEIDA   COMMUNITY   LTD. 

LowENTHAL,  EsTHER.  Labor  policy  of 
the  Oneida  Community  Ltd*  Law  and 
Labor,  9:  223-228,  August,  1927.  Reprint 
from  Journal  of  Political  Economy, 
February,  1927. 

PERSONNEL   MANAGEMENT 

Bergen,  Harold  B.,  Manager  person- 
nel department,  Henry  L.  Doherty  & 
Co.  Instruments  used  in  personnel 
administration.  Personnel,  4:  29-32, 
August,  1927. 

Goldberg,  H.  How  to  maintain  a  compe- 
tent and  loj'al  executive  staff.  Forbes, 
20:  17-1S+,  August  1,  1927.  Interview 
with  Irenee  du  Pont. 


Herb,  C.  O.     Sound  management  in  deal- 
ing   with    men.     I^Iachinery,    33:  885-8, 
August,  1927. 
White  Motor  Company. 

Larkin,  F.  V.  Personnel  administration 
in  the  steel  industry.  Mechanical  En- 
gineering, 49:  1013-14,  September,   1927. 


Gardiner,  Lee  H.,  National  Safety  Coun- 
cil. Effective  use  of  posters  in  industry. 
Industrial  Psychology,  2:  514-516,  Octo- 
ber, 1927. 

psychology 

Laird,  Donald  A.  Forty  is  the  best  time 
to  learn.  Executive,  1:  8,  25,  August  1, 
1927. 

Psychologists    find    middle-aged    men 
more  receptive  than  children. 


White  Motor  Co.,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Analy- 
sis charts  and  rating  scales.  Foremen's 
Magazine,  3:  12-13,  August,  1927. 

Leadership  analysis  chart,  employe 
rating  record,  used  by  foremen  as  part  of 
their  work  in  foremen  training  con- 
ferences. 

RESEARCH 

Cooke,  Morris  Llewellyn,  consulting 
engineer,  Philadelphia.  Organized  labor 
and  research.  American  Federationist, 
34:  951-955,  August,  1927. 

Frederick,  J.  George,  president,  Business 
Course,  N.  Y.  C.  How  management 
uses  research  to  shape  its  policies.  Man- 
agement, 29:  27-30,  68,  August,  1927. 

In  deciding  important  business  matters, 
executives  now  rely  more  upon  facts  than 
upon  their  own  judgment. 

Spraragen,  William,  secretary  Division  of 
engineering  and  industrial  research, 
National  Research  Council.  Research 
the  beacon  of  progress.  1.  What  research 
means  to  industry  in  practical  gains.  2. 
Let  industrial  research  underwrite  your 
business.  Factory,  XXXVIII:  275-277, 
290,  292,  394,  398,  402,  464-467,  542,  544, 
546,  February,  1927,  March,  1927. 


326 


Current  Periodicals 


Alford,  L.  p.  Way  to  reduce  the  cost  of 
accidents.  Manufacturing  Industries, 
14:  121-i,  August,  1927.  Report  of  a  spe- 
cial committee  of  the  engineering  council. 

S.A.FETY — CAMPAIGNS 

Seesemanx,  Dr.  Kurt,  Mulheim  (Ruhr). 
Psychotechnical  studies  on  industrial 
propaganda.  Industrial  Safety  Survey, 
3:  63-74,  May-June,  1927. 

Based  on  studies  to  determine  how 
safety  posters  should  be  prepared  to 
ensure  their  effectiveness  and  to  deter- 
mine how  an  eiTective  safety  propaganda 
should  be  organized,  temporally  and 
spatially. 

SAFETY — MINES 

Honor  roll  of  coal  companies  using  rock 
dust  to  prevent  coal  dust  explosions,  236 
companies  in  United  States  and  Canada. 
American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  17: 
217-219,  September,  1927. 

SCIENTIFIC   MANAGEMENT 

Clark,  Wallace,  consulting  management 
engineer,  N.  Y.  C.  Scientific  manage- 
ment has  accomplished  much  in  coal 
mines  in  Poland,  time  studies  were  first 
made  and  the  various  causes  of  delay 
charted  therefrom,  "Harmonograms"  or 
ideal  charts  were  then  constructed  and 
independent  operations  thereby  sj-nchro- 
nized.  Coal  Age,  31:  871-873,  June  16, 
1927. 

Fisher,  Irving,  professor  of  economics, 
Yale  University.  Labor  and  scientific 
management.  American  Federationist, 
34:  694-699,  June,  1927. 

Urwick,  L.,  organizing  secretary,  Rowntree 
&  Co.  Ltd.  Scientific  management  in 
Great  Britain.  Management  Review, 
16:  323-336,  October,  1927. 

selection  of  employees 

Ream,  M.  J.,  and  Sykes,  C.  L.  Successful 
force  built  from  misfits.  Industrial  Psy- 
chology, II:  403,  August,  1927. 

Selection  and  placing  of  emploj-ees.  (Gas 
Journal  (London),  August  10,  1927,  p. 
327,  250  words.) 

The  Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light 


and  Power  Co.  of  Baltimore  uses  photo- 
graphs to  aid  eligible  applicants  to  decide 
what  particular  branch  of  the  work  will 
best  suit  them.  The  photographs  are 
mounted  on  displaj^  boards.  The  appli- 
cant is  directed  to  the  group  of  photo- 
graphs titled  "apprenticeship."  On  this 
board  are  shown  12  occupations  for  which 
the  company  frequently  employ  young 
men  who  are  interested  in  learning  a 
trade.  The  interviewer  points  out  to  the 
applicant  the  pictures  of  certain  occupa- 
tions for  which  he  feels  the  applicant  is 
fitted  by  education  and  general  physical 
qualifications. 

SOCIAL   agencies — BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Burke,  William  W.,  University  of  Chicago. 
Administration  of  private  social  service 
agencies;  a  topical  bibliography.  Social 
Service  Review,  1:  104-116;  270-290, 
March,  1927,  June,  1927. 

SOCIAL  science 

Dawson,  C.  A.,  McGill  University.  Unity 
of  the  social  group.  Journal  of  Applied 
Sociology,  11:  565-573,  July-August, 
1927. 

STABILIZATION 

KuczYNSKi,  JuRGEN.  Wagcs  and  business 
cycles.  American  Federationist,  34: 
1095-1099,  September,  1927. 

Chase,  Charles  H.,  Institute  of 
Economics.  Employment  stabilization 
through  consolidated  national  industrial 
budgeting.  American  Federationist,  34: 
1068-1077,  September,  1927. 

Cooke,  Morris  L.,  consulting  engineer, 
president  Taylor  society.  Waste  through 
unemployment.  American  Federation- 
ist, 34:  700-701,  June,  1927. 

standardization 

Kent,  Robert  T.,  consulting  engineer. 
Standardization  of  equipment.  Ameri- 
can Federationist,  34:  717-721,  June, 
1927. 

TEMPER.\TURE — PHYSIOLOGICAL   EFFECT 

Yaglon,  C.  p.  Temperature,  humidity 
and  air  movement  in  industries;  the  effee- 


Current  Periodicals 


327 


tive  temperature  index.    Journal  of  In- 
dustrial Hygiene,  9:  297-309,  July,  1927. 
Bibliography  p.  309. 


them  comparatively  by  examinations, 
rating  and  interview,  selection  after 
interview  with  executives. 


Laird,  Donald  A.,  Ph.D.,  Sci.D.  Too 
much  brains  for  the  job — or  not  enough? 
Factory,  39:  415-416,  September,  1927. 

Intelligence  tests  in  guiding  applicants. 
Gives  typical  intelligence  test  questions. 

Strong,  E.  K.  New  psychological  tests. 
(Engineering  and  Contracting,  June, 
1927,  p.  244,  1500  words.) 

The  Westinghouse  Electric  Co.  uses, 
the  interest  analysis  blank  to  place  their 
engineers. 

From  these  interest  analysis  forms  it 
was  found  that  men  who  proved  to  have 
identical  likes  and  dislikes  were  prac- 
tically certain  to  be  engaged  in  the  same 
trade  or  profession  and  they  differed 
from  those  in  other  professions  in  the 
tendency  of  their  thinking  and  feeling 
on  the  majority  of  subjects. 

^YILCOX,  V.  V.  Psychological  tests  on 
the  German  railways.  Railway  Age, 
83:  141,  July  23,  1927. 

TRADE   UNIONS 

Cummins,  E,  E.,  College  of  Wooster, 
Wooster,  O.  Political  and  social  philoso- 
phy of  the  Carpenters'  Union.  Politi- 
cal Science  Quarterly,  XLII:  397-418, 
September,  1927. 

TRAINING 

George,  D.  L.,  Supervisor  of  training, 
General  Electric  Co.,  Erie,  Pa.  National 
necessity  for  apprentice  training;  every 
industry,  whether  large  or  small,  should 
cooperate  in  a  general  program  of  trade 
training.  Foremen's  Magazine,  3:  4-5, 
31,  August,  1927. 

Hoover,  D.  P.,  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Co.,  East  Pittsburgh 
works.  Educational  Dept.  Training  rec- 
ords and  their  value  to  industry.  Soc- 
iety of  Industrial  Engineers  Bulletin, 
9:  11-12,  25,  September,  1927. 

Jones,   Franklin  T.,   Cleveland  College. 
Selection    for    training.    Personnel,     4: 
11-27,  August,  1927. 
Getting  the  right  candidates,  ranking 


training — FOREMEN 

Hartley,  L.  A.  Industrial  problems  or 
diflBculties.  Mechanical  Engineering,  49: 
895-6;  Discussion  896-7,  August,  1927. 

Plowman,  E.  Grosvenor,  Industrial  rela- 
tions adviser  Associated  Industries  of 
Massachusetts.  Planning  the  next  step 
in  foremen  conference  work.  Personnel, 
4:  ^10,  August,  1927. 

Stearns,  W.  D.  Training  and  developing 
foremen.  Machinery,  33:  926-9,  August, 
1927. 

Methods  used  by  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric &  Manufacturing  Company. 

unemployment 

Janko,  J.  Correlation  between  seasonal 
unemployment  and  certain  social  and 
economic  phenomena.  International  La- 
bour Review,  16:  216-32,  August,  1927. 

unemployment  insurance — CLOTHING 
TRADE 

Stewart,  Bryce  M.,  Industrial  Relations 
Counselors,  Inc.     Plan  of  unemployment 
insurance  by  industry.    Taylor  Society 
Bulletin,  12:  471-7,  August,  1927. 
Men's  clothing  industry  of  Chicago. 

UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE — FOREIGN — 
GREAT  BRITAIN 

Halsey,  Olga  S.  No  "demoralization" 
under  British  unemployment  insurance; 
adverse  charges  unfounded.  American 
Labor  Legislation  Review,  15:  244r-246, 
September,  1927. 

VACATIONS 

FiSHBEiN,  Morris,  M.D.  Sensible  vaca- 
tions for  business  men.  Executive,  1: 
9-10,  30,  August  1,  1927. 

Medical  authority  urges  executives  to 
change  mental  groove  during  leisure 
periods. 

WAGES 

Bellerby,    J,    R.    Evolution   of   a  wage 


328 


Current  Periodicals 


ad j  ustment  system .  International  Labor 
Review,  16:  1-25,  196-215,  July,  August, 
1927. 

WAGES — PAYMENT   METHODS 

Shaw,  C.  E.  Dennison  Manufacturing 
Company.  Paj-ment  of  Salesmen.  Per- 
sonnel, 4:  7-9,  August,  1927. 


WASTE — ELIMINATION 

Miller,  Spencer,  Jr.,  secretary  Workers 
Education  Bureau.  Symposium  on  waste 
elimination,  conference  for  the  elimina- 
tion of  waste  in  industry,  Philadelphia 
central  labor  union  and  labor  college 
American  Federationist,  34:  664r-744, 
June,  1927. 


Importance  of  Women  in  Industry 

By  Mary  Anderson,  Women's  Bureau  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Labor 

Since  its  permanent  esLahlishment  in  1920,  the  Women^s  Bureau 
has  kept  pace  in  its  activities  with  the  increasing  scope  of  women  s 
work  in  industry.  Miss  Anderson  has  consented  to  review  for 
the  readers  of  the  Personnel  Journal  some  of  the  activities, 
aspirations,  and  standards  of  this  important  and  valuable  govern- 
mental agency. 


THE  study  of  the  work  of  women 
in  industry  can  no  longer  be 
classed  as  unimportant.  The 
1920  census  figures — now  seven  years 
old — show  over  eight  and  one-half 
million  women  gainfully  employed  in 
the  United  States,  and  distributed 
through  all  but  35  of  the  572  occupa- 
tions in  which  workers  in  this  country 
engage.  One  in  every  five  of  our  wage 
earners  is  a  woman.  Practically  two 
miUion  of  them  are  married  women. 
These  women  are  in  deadly  earnest 
about  their  jobs.  Their  work  is  bread 
and  shelter  to  them  and  to  those  de- 
pendent upon  them.  And  even  as 
industry  is  indispensable  to  them,  so 
are  they  indispensable  to  industry. 

It  was  because  the  Government  had 
come  to  realize  these  facts  that  the 
war-time  Women  in  Industry  service 
was  made  permanent  in  1920,  and  re- 
christened  by  Act  of  Congress,  ''The 
Women's  Bureau  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Labor." 

The  Bureau  has  to  date  issued  more 
than  60  bulletins,  representing  careful 
and  extensive  research  and  investiga- 


tions by  the  economists  and  statisti- 
cians on  its  staff.  These  bulletins 
cover  wages,  hours,  working  condi- 
tions, legislation,  health  and  accident 
problems,  standards,  and  the  extent  of 
the  contribution  made  by  the  women 
to  their  famihes'  support.  Nineteen 
States  have  been  studied  in  detail, 
usually  at  the  request  of  the  State 
department  of  labor  or  some  similar 
agency. 

From  a  personnel  standpoint,  the 
assistance  of  a  fact-finding  agency  of 
this  sort  should  be  great.  The  effi- 
ciency of  one-fifth  of  the  total  work- 
ing population  is  certainly  no  small 
matter.  Too  often,  it  has  been  true 
that  women  workers  have  been  classi- 
fied as  drifters,  the  lowest  form  of 
casual,  unskilled  labor,  a  di^urbing 
menace  to  a  continuous  level  of  pro- 
duction. That  there  is  a  class  of  this 
type  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  it  is  also 
true  of  male  workers.  The  single  fact 
that  the  Women's  Bureau  has  found, 
in  the  course  of  some  18  of  the  State 
studies,  over  7700  women  of  81,000 
reporting  who  had  remained  in  the 


329 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOtTENAL.  VOL.  VI,   NO.  5 


330 


Anderson:  Importance  of  Women  in  Industry 


same  industry  for  fifteen  years  or  more 
is  significant.  The  group  of  stable, 
skilled  women  in  industry  who  are 
working  because  they  have  to  work, 
not  because  they  are  seeking  excite- 
ment and  a  little  pin  money — is  in- 
creasingly large.  It  is  obvious  then, 
that  industry  is  going  to  have  to  take 
this  group  more  seriously  than  it 
hitherto  has  done. 

STANDARDS   OF  THE    WOMEN's   BUREAU 

With  these  things  in  mind,  the 
standards  set  up  by  the  Bureau  are 
of  interest.  They  were  drawn  by  a 
committee  composed  of  employers, 
labor  representatives  and  Government 
experts  during  the  war,  and  experience 
over  the  succeeding  period  has  found 
them  entirely  sound.  They  are  the 
basis  of  regularity  and  decreased  turn- 
over because  they  mean  the  possibility 
of  health,  contentment,  the  elimination 
of  fatigue  and  of  worry. 

These  standards  are : 

1.  Equal  pay  for  equal  work,  regardless 

of  sex  or  race. 

2.  An  eight-hour  day;  a  half-holiday  on 

Saturday;  one  day's  rest  in  seven. 

3.  At  least  30  minutes  for  a  meal. 

4.  Ten  minutes'  rest  in  the  middle  of 

each  half-day  without  lengthening 
the  day. 

5.  No    employment    between    midnight 

and  6  a.m. 

6.  Clean  work  places,  with  special  atten- 

tion to  floors  to  prevent  slipping. 

7.  Enough  light  but  no  glare. 

8.  Adequate         ventilation.     Provision 

against      heat,      humidity,      dust, 
fumes. 

9.  Guarded  machinery.    Protection  from 

fire  and  other  hazards. 
10.  A   chair   for  each  woman,    l)uilt   on 
posture    lines,     adjusted    to    both 
worker  and  job.     Neither  constant 
sitting  nor  constant  standing. 


11.  Sanitary     and     accessible     drinking 

water;  individual  cups  or  sanitary 
fountains. 

12.  Sanitary     and     accessible     washing 

facilities;  hot  and  cold  water,  soap, 
individual  towels. 

13.  Sanitary  toilets,  one  to  every  fifteen 

women. 

14.  Dressing  rooms  for  change  of  clothing. 

Rest  rooms  for  rest  periods. 

15.  Separate  lunch  rooms,  with  hot  food 

where  possible. 

16.  No  prohibition  of  women's  employ- 

ment in  any  industry  except  those 
proved  to  be  more  injurious  to 
women  than  to  men. 

17.  No  home  work. 

The  bureau  also  recommends  a  per- 
sonnel department  in  every  plant, 
having  responsibility  for  the  selection, 
assignment,  transfer  or  withdrawal  of 
workers  and  for  the  establishment  of 
proper  working  conditions,  with  a  com- 
petent woman  in  charge  of  all  matters 
affecting  women  employees. 

Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  the 
woman  in  industry  is  only  too  evi- 
dently here  to  stay.  She  is  rapidly 
overcoming  many  of  her  handicaps, 
but  those  of  low  wages  and  uncertain 
status  are  still  with  her.  She  will  in 
the  long  run  be  responsible  to  a  great 
degree  for  the  coloring  of  the  industrial 
structure.  We  can  never  wholly  omit 
consideration  of  her  home  and  social 
relationships,  nor  be  able  wholly  to 
assay  her  as  an  industrial  being  per  se. 
But  in  spite  of  this,  we  must  reaUze 
that  her  fate  will  definitely  affect  the 
fate  of  the  men  who  must  compete  with 
her,  and  who  must  employ  her.  A 
great  opportunity  lies  in  the  hands  of 
the  personnel  departments  to  bring 
the  realization  of  these  facts  home  to 
their  organizations. 

{Manuscript  received  October  20,  1927.) 


Occupational  Interests  of  Women 

By  Mary  I.  Hogg 

Dr.  E.  K.  Strong,  Jr.,  has  done  notable  work  in  gathering  the  threads 
of  research  on  the  measurement  of  vocational  interests,  and  weaving 
them  into  a  firm  and  lasting  fabric.  The  Personnel  Journal  has  had 
the  privilege  of  publishing  several  articles  on  his  investigations  in 
recent  numbers.  By  corroborating  his  findings,  Miss  Hogg's  study 
testifies  to  the  soundness  of  his  research.  The  vocational  interest 
analysis  can  now  be  recommended  without  qualification  for  a  place 
in  every  investigation  in  vocational  measurement. 

The  author  has  used  the  Interest  Report  Blank  and  technique 
worked  out  by  Dr.  E.  K.  Strong,  Jr.,  for  the  differentiation  of  voca- 
tional groups  of  men,  to  see  if  the  same  results  can  be  expected  with 
groups  of  women.  She  used  his  scoring  method  with  groups  of  teach- 
ers, authors,  business  women,  department  store  saleswomen,  house- 
wives, retail  saleswomen,  and  stenographers.  When  the  blanks  were 
scored  according  to  the  interests  of  the  teachers,  it  was  found  that  the 
interests  of  the  housewives  and  the  stenographers  were  most  closely 
similar  to  those  of  the  teachers,  and  the  interests  of  authors  least 
similar,  the  overlapping  of  distributions  being  fifty-two,  forty-nine,  and 
twenty-three  respectively.  When  the  teachers'  blanks  were  scored 
according  to  the  interests  of  each  of  the  other  vocational  groups,  it  was 
found  that  the  overlapping  was  approximately  the  same.  These  results 
correspond  with  those  which  Dr.  Strong  has  found,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  blank  itself  and  the  scoring  method  were  devised  and  evaluated 
for  men. 

IN  THE  August,  September,  and  determined  the  value  of  the  blank  for  a 

October  issues  of  the  Journal  of  large  number  of  occupations. 
Personnel  Research,  Dr.  K.  M.         Since   there   is   authority   for   the 

Cowdery  and  Dr.  E.  K.  Strong,  Jr.,  of  opinion    that    individual    differences 

Stanford  University,  showed  that  a  in  interests  are  greater  than  sex  dif- 

modified  form  of  the  Carnegie  Institute  ferences,  I  have  used  the  same  Interest 

of  Technology  Interest  Report  Blank  Report    Blank    and    the    technique, 

discloses    characteristically    different  worked  out  for  the  interests  of  men  by 

interests  among  men  in   18  occupa-  Dr.  Strong,  to  determine  how  success- 

tional  groups.     Dr.  Cowdery  proved  fully  the  blank  will  segregate  occupa- 

the  value  of  the  blank  and  a  scoring  tions  of  women, 
technique  for  distinguishing  lawyers,         The  reports    of   60  teachers  have 

doctors,   and  engineers.     Dr.   Strong  been  scored  by  each  of  the  scales  for 

simplified  the  scoring  technique  and  65  authors,   60  business  women,   50 

331 


332 


Hogg:  Occupational  Interests  of  Women 


department  store  saleswomen,  60 
housewives,  60  retail  saleswomen,  and 
60  stenographers;  and  each  of  these 
groups  has  been  scored  by  the  scale 
weighted  according  to  the  interests  of 
the    60    teachers.     Many    of    these 


est  as  characteristic  of  their  profession, 
also  the  distribution  of  355  non- 
teachers  representing  7  professions. 
The  distributions  are  given  in  percent- 
ages of  the  ratings  A,  B,  and  C,  as  con- 
ceived by  Dr.  Strong.     An  A  rating  is 


Seres   -  »  ^ 


Sbi, 


Fig.  1.  Distribution  of  Scores  of  Teachers  and  Non-teachers  on  Interest  Report 
Blank,  Scored  for  Teaching  Interest 


blanks,   filled  out  and  tallied,   were      given  to  scores  equal  to  the  highest  75 


per  cent  of  the  scores  of  the  particular 
occupation ;  and  B  is  given  the  scores 
equal  to  the  lowest  25  per  cent,  or  to 
scores  between  the  critical  score 
placed  at  approximately  —3.5  P.E.  of 
scores  for  60  teachers  scored  for  inter-      the  distribution  and  the  upper  limit 


furnished  by  Dr.  Strong. 

SCORING   ACCORDING   TO   TEACHERS' 
INTERESTS 

Figure  1  presents  the  distribution  of 


Hogg:  Occupational  Interests  of  Women 


333 


of  the  lowest  75  per  cent  of  the  scores 
of  the  particular  occupation.  C  repre- 
sents a  score  lower  than  the  critical 
score  of  the  occupation. 

By  the  Teacher  Interest  Scale,  the 


scores  of  the  355  non-teachers,  scored 
by  the  Teacher  Interest  Scale,  range 
from  —65  to  115.  Of  these,  4  per 
cent  rate  A,  or  equal  75  per  cent  of  the 
Teachers'  score;  33  per  cent  rate  B,  or 


3*/.     Zt%     1S% 

C        B        «. 


Stereo  praptierS 

517.   ^77.     zy. 


Scores 
Fig.  2a.  Distribution  of  Scores  of  355  Women  Scored  for  Interest  in  Teaching 


scores  of  60  teachers  range  from  -4  to 
203 ;  scores  from  96.6  are  given  a  rating 
of  A,  and  scores  from  50  to  96.6  are 
given  the  rating  of  B.  The  critical 
score  is  placed  at  50;  two  teachers 
receive   scores   lower   than   50.     The 


equal  teachers'  scores  between  the 
critical  score,  50,  and  the  upper  25  per 
cent;  and  63  per  cent  rate  C,  scoring 
less  than  50,  the  critical  score  by  the 
Teacher  Scale. 
Figure  2  is  a  more  detailed  picture 


334 


Hogg:  Occupational  Interests  of  Women 


of  the  information  of  figure  1.     The     graph  are  recorded  the  percentages  of 
seven  professions,  presented  here  as     the  particular  profession  whose  scores 


1 

1 

.^1 

H  ^^^^^^^^^H 

■  ■ 

1. 

Emporium  Saleswomen 

m 

■■ 

n 
II 

u 

1 
i 
1 
i 

s 
1 
a 

2 

1 

J 

i 

1. 

Bust  ne»5  Wome.iv 

li 

i 

1 

1 

■ 

t 

RotKorS 

IT/.   2J-/.     «/. 
C       B       fl 

1 

bi 

J>      O      O      0       O      O,      O      O       O      o      0 

o 

0      0       O 

S' 

IS^S^  3^S^£ 

Fig.  2b. 


Stores 

Distribution  of  Scores  of  355  Women  Scored  for  Interest  in  Teaching 


separate  professions,  are  compared  for     rate  A,  B,  and  C  in  the  teacher  group, 
interest    in    teaching.     Above    each     These  distributions  show  that  some 


Hogg:  Occupational  Interests  of  Women 


335 


professional  groups  overlap  the  teacher 
group  more  than  others.  The  per- 
centages of  overlapping  scores  of  the 
seven  professions  when  scored  for 
interest  in  teaching  are  given  in 
table  1. 

The  overlapping  compares  favorably 
with  the  results  of  Dr.  Strong's  investi- 
gation scoring  13  occupations  for 
personnel  interest.  The  largest  over- 
lapping in  his  study  was  47  per  cent; 
the  smallest  was  no  overlapping  at  all, 
for  the  group  of  artists.  In  my  study 
the  difference  between  the  group 
scoring  most  like  the  group  of  teachers, 


distribution  as  is  the  first  on  table  1, 
i.e.,  teachers  scored  by  their  own 
scale.  The  second  bar  represents  the 
overlapping  of  teachers'  scores  on  the 
Stenographer  Scale.  By  this  scale 
scores  higher  than  99.5  rate  A,  and 
scores  from  30  to  99.5  rate  B.  Here 
the  critical  score  is  placed  at  the  lowest 
score  of  the  group,  30.  The  third 
bar  shows  the  overlapping  of  teach- 
ers' scores  on  the  Housewife  Scale. 
Scores  higher  than  53.9  rate  A,  and 
scores  between  0  and  53.9  rate  B. 
The  critical  score  is  placed  at  0.  Re- 
gardless of  the  distribution,  I  have  not 


TABLE  1 


TABLE  2 


Teachers 

Housewives 

Stenographers 

Retail  saleswomen 
Emporium  saleswomen 
Business  women . . 
Authors 


TEA.CHER  8CAXB 
RATING 

A 

B 

C 

per 
cent 

per 
cent 

per 
cent 

75 

22 

3 

9 

43 

48 

2 

47 

51 

5 

37 

58 

5 

23 

72 

5 

22 

73 

0 

23 

77 

TOTAL 
OVER- 
LAP- 
PING 


per  cent 


97 
52 
49 
42 
28 
27 
23 


Teachers 

Housewives 

Stenographers 

Retail  saleswomen 

Emporium  saleswomen 

Business  women 

Authors 


OVERLAPPINO 


Teacher 
scale 


per  cent 

97 
52 
49 
42 
28 
27 
23 


Non- 
teacher 
scales 


per  cent 

54 
65 
14 
27 
44 
9 


i.e.,  the  housewives,  and  the  group 
scoring  most  unlike  the  group  of 
teachers,  i.e.,  the  authors,  is  not  as 
large  as  it  is  in  Strong's  study. 

SCORING   FOR   INTEREST   IN   SEVEN 
OCCUPATIONS 

Figure  3  shows  the  results  obtained 
when  the  group  of  teachers  is  scored  for 
their  interest  in  the  seven  occupations. 
The  cross-hatched  portion  of  each  bar 
represents  the  per  cent  of  the  teachers' 
scores  that  overlap  the  scores  of  the 
professional  group  whose  scale  is  used. 

The  first  bar  represents  the  same 


used  a  critical  score  below  0  because 
any  negative  score  indicates  lack  of 
interest  in  the  occupation.  The 
fourth  bar  represents  the  scores  re- 
ceived by  teachers  when  scored  by  the 
Business  Woman  Scale.  Scores  be- 
tween 0  and  39.5  rate  B  and  scores 
above  39.5  rate  A.  The  Emporium 
Scale  range  of  scores  is  from  —160  to 
229.  Scores  between  0  and  20.7  rate 
B,  and  scores  higher  than  20.7  rate 
A.  The  sixth  bar  represents  the  over- 
lapping of  teachers'  scores  when  the 
Retail  Saleswoman  Scale  is  used. 
Scores  higher  than  14.5  rate  A,  and 


336 


Hogg:  Occupational  Interests  of  Women 


those  between  0  and  14.5  rate  B. 
The  last  bar  is  the  result  when  the 
Author  Scale  is  used.  Scores  higher 
than  96  rate  A,  and  scores  between  50 
and  96  rate  B. 

Table  2  summarizes  the  total  over- 
lapping.    The  right  hand  column  pre- 


In  every  case  the  per  cent  of  over- 
lapping compares  favorably  with  the 
results  of  Strong's  investigation.  By 
both  scoring  schemes,  the  interests  of 
authors  tend  to  differ  most  widely 
from  those  of  teachers.  The  over- 
lapping is  smallest  for  this  group  scored 


ritical 


K\\l  ^over  )a.ff  inp 


Fig.  3.  Per  Cent  of  Overlapping  of  Scores  when  60  Teachers  Are  Scored  for 

Interest  in  7  Occupations 


sents  the  per  cent  of  the  teachers' 
scores  that  overlap  the  norm  of  each 
profession  as  its  scale  is  used.  The 
left  hand  column  presents  the  per 
cent  of  overlapping  scores  of  the  seven 
occupations  when  scored  for  interest 
in  teaching. 


by  the  Teacher  Scale,  and  it  is  con- 
siderably smaller  when  teachers  are 
scored  by  the  Author  Scale.  This 
fact,  that  authors  tend  to  separate 
from  the  group  of  teachers  more  than 
any  other  group,  is  probably  due  to 
the!  fact   that   the    authors   used   in 


Hogg:  Occupational  Interests  of  Women 


337 


this  study  are  a  more  select  lot;  they 
are  all  women  recorded  as  authors  in 
Who's  Who. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  results  of  this  study  show  that 
the  so-called  Interest  Report  Blank 
does  differentiate  the  groups  of  women. 
Yet  the  degree  of  accuracy  of  this 
differentiation  can  not  be  stated  until 
all  the  occupations  have  been  used  as 
a  control  group  as  I  have  used  teachers 
in  this  study.  Each  of  the  professions 
must  be  scored  for  interest  in  every 
other  occupation,  and  the  results 
interpreted  in  each  case  by  ratings  of 
A,  B,  and  C.  Then,  if  the  overlapping 
between  the  other  occupations  is 
approximately  the  same  as  it  is  when 
teachers  are  used  as  a  control  group, 
we  may  say  that  the  Interest  Blank  is 
as  accurate  in  segregating  the  occupa- 
tional interests  of  women  as  it  is  for 
segregating  those  of  men. 

Strong  has  recently  attempted  to 
reduce  the  per  cent  of  overlapping  of 
men's  scores  on  the  Interest  Blank. 
He  has  found  that  omitting  55  seem- 
ingly unimportant  items  from  the 
blank  increases  the  per  cent  of  over- 
lapping very  noticeably.  He  is  now 
adding  about  157  more  items  to  the 
blank  to  see  if  the  converse  is  true;  to 
reduce  the  per  cent  of  overlapping  to  a 
minimum.  Some  overlapping  is  to 
be  expected;  probably  a  number  of 
people  have  interests  of  such  a 
nature  that  they  must  be  classified  in 
more   than   one   occupational   group. 

The  addition  of  the  same  157  items 
may  be  as  effective  in  reducing  the 
overlapping  of  the  interests  of  women. 


Or  it  may  be  that  the  Interest  Blank, 
which  was  designed  for  the  interests  of 
men,  will  more  definitely  discriminate 
between  the  interests  of  women  if  it 
is  modified  to  satisfy  the  interests  of 
most  women.  Many  of  the  occupa- 
tions in  the  first  two  columns  on  the 
blank  are  occupations  for  men.  Army 
officer,  baseball  player,  clergyman, 
and  a  few  others,  could  be  replaced 
by  occupations  more  interesting  to 
women. 

Perhaps  the  per  cent  of  overlapping 
of  women's  interests,  which  this  study 
shows,  is  as  small  as  it  can  be  for 
women's  interests.  The  amount  of 
overlapping  may  explain  the  case  as  it 
exists  today.  It  may  indicate  that 
women  in  the  various  occupations  are 
alike;  and  that  their  interests  are 
similar  in  that  they  all  want  to  do 
something;  that  they  are  in  the  par- 
ticular occupations  which  offered  the 
least  resistance  for  them  to  satisfy  the 
desire  to  do  something,  to  be  modern 
women.  In  my  study,  the  fact  that 
a  few  women  in  every  group  except 
stenographers  received  negative  scores 
by  their  own  scales,  indicating  lack  of 
interest  in  the  occupation,  emphasizes 
the  point  that  now  women  work  not  for 
love  of  the  work  itself,  but  to  be  busy. 
If  this  is  the  case,  we  will  have  to  wait 
for  the  next  generation.  By  that 
time  the  number  of  women  doing 
skilled  and  professional  work  will  have 
increased  sufficiently  for  women  to 
choose  their  vocation  from  a  genuine 
liking  for  the  work  rather  than  from 
expediency. 

(Manuscript  received  August  1,  19S7.) 


Who  Is  a  Good  Motorman? 


By  Sadie  Myers  Shellow  and  Walter  J.  Mc Carter,  Milwaukee  Electric 

Railway  and  Light  Company 

Objective  measurement  of  success  as  a  motorman  has  been  the  goal  of 
many  investigators.  A  wholly  objective  criterion  of  success  will 
some  day  be  attained;  but  in  the  meantime  the  authors  have  wisely 
bent  their  efforts  toward  objectifying  the  supervisors^  ratings  upon 
which  they  have  had  to  rely.  By  using  a  rating  system  which  calls 
for  observation  of  definite  actions  of  the  motorman  and  by  training 
the  supervisors  in  the  use  of  the  scale,  the  authors  have  found  remark- 
able agreement  among  the  resulting  judgments.  Thus  a  long  step  is 
taken  toward  objectivity,  to  the  advantage  of  further  research  on  this 
occupation. 


THE  bogey  of  "reliable  objective 
criteria"  is  constantly  lurking 
around  ready  to  spring  out  at 
the  psychologist  who  is  trying  to  apply 
tests  and  measurements  in  industry. 
Many  systems  of  ratings  have  been 
devised.  Psychologists  have  swung 
from  detailed  man-to-man  ratings  to 
general  designations  of  "good,"  "aver- 
age," and  "poor."  The  difficulty 
lies  in  the  definition.  The  judgment 
of  foreman,  supervisors,  or  department 
heads  is  necessarily  subjective,  not 
objective.  It  is  merely  an  opinion. 
It  has  been  thought  that  by  taking 
several  judgments  and  averaging  the 
results,  an  approach  to  the  truth  was 
obtained.  But  when  one  begins  to 
deal  in  averages  and  mathematical 
abstractions,  actual  valuations  be- 
come obscured.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
one  competent  judge  may  have  his 
estimates  rather  seriously  modified  by 


the  averaging  in  of  others  with  greater 
personal  bias. 

The  problem  is  to  make  the  "objec- 
tive criterion"  truly  objective.  This  is 
ideally  accomplished  where  piecework 
furnishes  an  index  of  ability  or  where 
errors  are  recorded  and  used  as  meas- 
ures of  inefficiency.  But  many  jobs 
do  not  lend  themselves  so  readily  to 
such  indisputable  measures. 

For  several  years  the  writers  have 
been  groping  toward  an  objective 
measure  of  the  performance  of  a  motor- 
man.  Motorman  selection  tests  have 
been  used  for  over  four  years.  The 
results  were  first  checked  against 
supervisors' ratings.^  The  supervisors 
were  carefully  instructed  how  to  rate, 
given  sample  groups  for  ratings,  and 

'  Journal  of  Personnel  Research,  Octo- 
ber 1925,  Vol.  IV,  No.  6,  pages  222-237. 
•'Research  Selection  of  Motormen  in  Mil- 
waukee," by  Sadie  Myers  Shellow. 


338 


Shellow  and  McCarter:  A  Good  Motorman 


339 


finally  all  asked  to  rate  the  same  group 
of  men.  The  correlations  of  the  rat- 
ings of  the  supervisors  with  each  other 
were  so  low  as  to  render  their  judg- 
ment invahd  as  a  check  against  test 
results.  Next,  accident  records  were 
used.  When  these  were  analyzed 
they  were  found  to  be  influenced  by  so 
many  extraneous  factors  that  they 
were  not  a  real  index  to  the  safety  of  a 
motorman.  The  problem  has  been 
to  discover  specific  material  for  rating 
purposes  which  would  be  sufficiently 
simple  in  character  that  it  could  not  be 
unduly  influenced  by  personal  opinion 
or  other  complicating  factors. 

PREVIOUS  METHOD   OF  RATING 

Until  recently  the  following  method 
has  been  used  by  instructors  for  rating 
motormen  in  service. 

Each  new  man  was  carefully  fol- 
lowed up  as  soon  as  he  had  completed 
his  training  with  the  special  platform 
instructors.  An  instructor  boarded 
the  car  and  rode  with  the  motorman 
for  a  period  of  time,  usually  about  an 
hour.  He  carried  with  him  a  pad  of 
rating  sheets  on  which  he  recorded  the 
time  of  his  boarding  the  car  and  of  his 
leaving  the  car,  and  other  information 
stated  on  Form  A  (fig.  1). 

The  motorman  was  carefully 
watched  and  given  a  numerical  rating 
on  each  item  fisted.  The  ratings  range 
from  1  to  5.    Their  values  were 

1.  Excellent 

2.  Good 

3.  Average 

4.  Poor 

5.  Very  poor 

The  card  served  as  a  guide,  suggest- 
ing items  which  were  to  be  particularly 
checked. 


Even  when  rating  on  specific  items, 
there  was  considerable  divergence  in 
the  estimates  of  the  various  instruc- 
tors. Obviously  some  instructors  were 
more    easily   satisfied    or    had   lower 

Form  A 

The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  and  Light 
Company 

INSTRUCTOR'S  REPORT 

Operator 

Badge Hours 

Car In  Service 

Line Date 

Cause  of  Follow  Up 

OPERATION 

1.  Starts _L 

2.  Stops _3_ 

3.  Schedules _2_ 

4.  Fares 1 

SAFETY 

5.  Loading  and  Unloading _5_ 

6.  Following  or  Passing  Vehicles . . . ._!_ 

7.  Warning  Signal _2_ 

8.  Recognizing  Danger _2_ 

9.  Attention _1_ 

10.  Action  in  an  Emergency ^ 

SERVICE 

11.  Watching  for  Passengers _2_ 

12.  Attitude  toward  Passengers _1_ 

13.  Announcements _§_ 

14.  Information ^ 

RESPONSIBILITY 

15.  Attitude  toward  Job _2_ 

16.  Following  Instructions _£_ 

17.  Neatness _1_ 

Additional  Training  Given  in 


Instructor 

Remarks  on  other  side 

Fig.  1 

standards  than  others.  "Good"  ap- 
parently did  not  have  the  same  conno- 
tation for  all  instructors.  Further 
definition  was  necessary.  Having 
specified  the  items,  the  next  step  was 
to  specify  the  gradings. 


340 


Shellow  and  McCarter:  A  Good  Motorman 


PRESENT    PLAN    OF  RATING 

According  to  the  present  plan  of 
rating,  the  terms  "excellent,"  "good," 
etc.,  have  been  done  aAvay  -with,  and  in 
their  place  a  booklet  has  been  drawn 
up  in  which  each  grade  of  performance 
is  described.  For  example,  the  meth- 
ods of  grading  "starts"  under  item  1, 
Operation,  is  as  follows: 

1.  Starts. 

A.  An  "A"  operator  notches  up  the 
controller  evenly  and  smoothly, 
hesitating  on  each  notch.  He  has 
the  air  fully  released  before  start- 
ing to  notch  the  controller.  He 
holds  the  controller  handle  prop- 
erly. In  crossing  an  intersection 
he  notches  up  to  the  first  running 
point  and  as  the  front  wheels  hit 
the  intersection,  he  throws  off  the 
power  and  coasts  after  which  he 
again  notches  up  properh*. 
C.  Any  of  the  following  bad  practices 
will  put  the  operator  in  the  "C" 
classification: 

1.  Holding  the  controller  handle  im- 

properly. 

2.  Starting  with  the  brakes  slightly 

set. 

3.  Notching  the  controller  more  than 

one  point  at  a  time  or  in  such  a 
way  as  to  get  an  uneven  start. 

4.  Hesitating  too  long  on  a  resistance 

point. 

5.  Not    throwing    off    the    power    at 

street  crossings. 
E.  Any  one  of  the  following  bad  prac- 
tices will  put  the  operator  in  the 
E"  classification. 

1.  Starting  with  the  brakes  set  so 

that  the  controller  handle  gets 
around  to  three  or  four  points 
before  the  car  starts. 

2.  Playing  on  the  first  finger  of  the 

controller  in  traffic  without  com- 
pletely coming  to  the  first  point. 

3.  Causing  arcing  of  the  controller  by 

not  stopping  squarely  on  the 
notches. 

4.  Running  on  a  resistance  point. 


5.  Dropping  back  one  or  more  notches 
on  the  controller  without  throw- 
ing all  the  way  off. 

Thus  each  item  is  defined.  The 
classifications  are  objective  and  easily 
determined.  Scoring  now  depends 
upon  two  things: 

1.  Familiarity  of  the  instructors  with 

"Standard    Practice"    (or    proper 
operation). 

2.  Ability  to  observe  quickly. 

Personal  judgment  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  It  is  likewise  easier  to 
train  a  group  of  instructors  along  the 
two  lines  indicated  above  than  to  at- 
tempt to  standardize  their  ideas  of 
"excellent"  or  "poor." 

RESULTS 

In  order  to  test  out  the  system,  six 
instructors  were  requested  to  ride  mth 
the  same  motorman  at  the  same  time 
for  a  period  of  an  hour,  and  rate  him. 
The  motorman  knew  he  was  going  to 
be  observed,  and  tried  to  operate  as 
perfectly  as  possible.  Such  an  atti- 
tude undoubtedl}^  influenced  per- 
formance, but  even  a  very  good  man  is 
liable  to  make  a  mistake  once  in  a  while, 
so  that  there  was  opportunity  for  the 
instructors  to  rate  according  to  all 
three  categories.  The  rating  was  not 
designed  to  be  a  fair  measure  of  the 
particular  operator  since  the  conditions 
were  so  artificial,  but  rather  to  give  the 
instructors  practice  in  using  the 
rating  scale.  Table  1  is  a  comparison 
of  the  six  ratings. 

There  are  several  differences. 
These  may  in  part  have  been  due  to 
the  fact  that  there  were  so  many  in- 
structors on  the  car  that  some  were 
placed  in  a  better  position  for  ob- 


Shellow  and  McCarter:  A  Good  ^lotorman 


341 


serving  than  others.  We  have  three 
instructors  who  give  more  A's  than 
C's  and  three  who  give  more  C's  than 
A's.  Either  the  first  three  did  not 
observe  as  much  or  were  more  lenient 
in  their  grading,  being  less  exacting  in 
their  standards.  After  discussing  the 
results  of  the  ratings  with  the  instruc- 

TABLE  1 

Supervisors 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

c 

c 

c 

C 

C 

c 

c 

c 

C 

C 

C 

c 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

C 

c 

c 

C 

C 

C 

C 

c 

c 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

c 

C 

A 

A 

A 

C 

c 

E 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

A 

A 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

A 

A 
A 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

C 

C 

C 

A 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A    10 

10 

11 

7 

5 

6 

C      5 

5 

5 

8 

10 

8 

E 

1 

tors  two  more  motermen  were  rated  by 
the  same  six  instructors  with  results 
as  indicated  in  tables  2  and  3. 

Here  the  ratings  run  more  nearly 
ahke.  There  is  still  some  divergence 
of  rating.  In  order  to  study  the  causes 
for  these  differences  of  rating  the  men 
were  assembled  and  the  gradings  were 
discussed.  It  was  found  that  some  of 
the  instructors  gave  the  motorman  a 


''C"  if  he  shpped  just  once  on  any 
item.  They  demanded  perfect  per- 
formance each  time  in  order  to  merit 
a  grade  of  "A."  Others  were  inchned 
to  grade  "A"  unless  the  motorman 
showed  by  his  operation  that  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  a  particular  incorrect 
practice.     They  felt  that  if,  for  ex- 

TABLE  2 
Supervisors 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

c 

C 

A 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

E 

A 

C 

A 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

C 

A 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

A 

A 

C 

C 

C 

A 

C 

C 

C 

A     14 

11 

14 

12 

11 

10 

C      2 

4 

2 

4 

4 

5 

E 

1 

ample,  during  the  course  of  some  75 
starts  and  stops,  there  were  only  one 
or  two  instances  of  rough  operation, 
the  greater  stress  should  be  laid  on  the 
73  smooth  starts. 

In  order  to  clear  up  such  points  as 
these  the  system  has  now  been  ex- 
panded. Intermediate  grades  "B" 
and    "D"    have     been     introduced. 


342 


Shellow  and  McCarter:  A  Good  Motorman 


Grade  "B"  refers  to  the  making  of  one 
type  of  error  of  category  "C"  only 
once.  Grade  "D"  refers  to  errors  of 
class  "E"  made  only  once.  The  scale 
now  runs  through  five  categories. 
"A"  for  operations  perfectly  performed 
all  the  time;  "B"  for  an  occasional 
sHp  of  a  minor  nature;  "C"  errors  of 
minor  nature  repeatedly  made;  "D" 

TABLE  3 

Supervisors 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

A 

A 

A 

A 

c 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

C 

C 

C 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

C 

C 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 
A 

A 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

C 

C 

C 

C 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

C 

A 

A 

A 

C 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A    13 

12 

13 

13 

11 

11 

C      3 

4 

3 

3 

5 

5 

errors  of  a  more  serious  nature  made 
once;  and  "E"  serious  errors  repeated. 
Each  error  is  described  in  detail  in  the 
instruction  book,  which  the  instructor 
carries  with  him  as  a  reference  and 
which  also  is  given  to  every  trainman 
so  that  he  will  know  how  and  why  he 
is  rated. 

This   method  of  rating,  then,  not 


only  serves  to  define  categories  for  the 
instructors,  but  it  quickly  shows  the 
tendencies  of  the  various  instructors. 

FormB 

The  Milwaukee  Electric  Railway  and  Light 
Company 

INSTRUCTOR'S  REPORT 

Operator 

Badge Hours 

Car In  Service 

Line Date 

Cause  of  Follow  Up 


OPERATION  Vipl^-  Grade 

1.  Starts I...   C 

2.  Stops _A_ 

3.  Schedules 2. . .  E 

4.  Fares 3. . .  C 

SAFETY 

5.  Loading  and  Unloading 2.  . .    C 

6.  Following  or  Passing 

Vehicles 4. . .  E 

7.  Warning  Signal 5.  . .   C 

8.  Recognizing  Danger A 

9.  Attention 3. .  ._£_ 

10.  Action  in  an  Emergency A 

SERVICE 

11.  Watching  for  Passengers -^ 

12.  Attitude  toward  Passengers A 

13.  Announcements ^ 

14.  Information 2. . .  C 

RESPONSIBILITY 

15.  Attitude  toward  Job A 

16.  Following  Instructions A 

17.  Neatness 1 . . .  C 

Additional  Training  Given  in 


.  Instructor 


Remarks  on  other  side 
Fig.  2 

Since  each  "C"  or  "E"  must  also  be 
accompanied  by  the  number  indicating 
the  rule  which  had  been  broken,  one 
can  readily  see  which  of  the  instructors 
are  the  most  observant.     The  form  is 


Shellow  and  McCarter:  A  Good  Motorman 


343 


now  filled  in  as  indicated  by  Form 
B(fig.2). 

Further  experimentation  is  being 
carried  on.  The  chief  instructor  and 
one  other  (a  different  man  each  time) 
are  now  riding  with  several  motormen 


and  these  results  checked.  In  this 
way  it  is  hoped  within  a  short  time  to 
bring  about  uniformity  of  ratings  and 
alert  instructors. 

(Manuscript  received  July  30,  1927.) 


Predicting  Achievement  in  College  and 
After  Graduation 

By  John  D.  Beatty  and  Glen  U.  Cleeton,  Carnegie  Institute  of  Technology^ 

It  is  no  easy  matter  to  predict  success  in  college  or  out.  Although 
comparatively  few  of  the  correlations  presented  in  this  article  can  he 
called  significant,  the  results  should  not  be  discouraging  when  viewed 
in  the  light  of  the  limitations  of  available  data.  A  careful  reading 
will  be  found  indispensable  for  all  those  contemplating  college  per- 
sonnel research. 

Ninety  graduates  of  the  engineering  classes  of  1923  and  1924  at 
Carnegie  Institute  of  Technology  were  chosen  as  subjects.  The  au- 
thors studied  the  relationships  between  the  following  sets  of  data, 
singly  and  in  combination :  (1)  Results  of  six  psychological  tests  admin- 
istered in  the  fall  of  1919,  (2)  scholastic  standing,  (3)  participation  in 
extra-curricular  activities,  (4)  importance  of  present  position  held  by 
the  graduate,  and  (5)  yearly  salary  of  graduate.  Few  significant  rela- 
tionships were  found.  The  following  were  the  only  correlations 
exceeding  0.30 :  Scholarship  with  median  of  all  tests,  0.306,  with  physics 
test,  0.322,  and  with  arithmetic  test,  0.383;  scholarship  and  salary  with 
median  of  all  tests,  0.316,  with  physics  test,  0.305,  and  with  arithmetic 
test,  0.311;  scholarship  and  position  with  median  of  all  tests,  0.356, 
with  physics  test,  0.372,  and  with  arithmetic  test,  0.388. 

NUMEROUS  attempts  are  being  ollary  only.     Because  of  certain  inade- 

made  to  predict  the  success  of  quacies  in  the  data  available,  the  pres- 

students  in   college.     Few,  if  ent  investigation  must  be  considered 

any,   investigations   have  been  made  exploratory  rather   than    conclusive, 

which  have  bearing  on  the  possibility  The   writers   are  more  interested  in 

of  predicting  achievements  of  students  trends  and  possibihties  at  present  than 

after    college    graduation.     This    in-  in  high  prediction  ratios.     The  latter 

vestigation  is  concerned  primarily  with  will  come  \vith  improvements  in  tech- 

the  prediction  of  achievement  after  niques  provided  the  proper  channels 

graduation.     Prediction  of  success  in  of  approach  can  be  determined, 
college  enters  into  the  report  as  cor- 

SUBJECTS   and   data 

'  The  writers  are  indebted  to  Mr.  E.  K.  Ninety  graduates  of  the  College  of 

Collins   for  assistance    in  preparing    data      t-.      •  •  j     t    j     4.  •  „     ^f    4-U^ 

,,,.       ,•  xfx         Engineenng    and    Industries    of    the 

relating  to  scholastic  achievement  of  stu-  °       .    ..       •  /•  m     i_      i 

dents  who  were  used  as  subjects  in  this      Carnegie  Institute  of  Technology  were 
investigation.  selected  for  the  purposes  of  the  present 

344 


Beatty  and  Cleeton:  Predicting  Achievement         345 


study.  Students  from  the  graduating 
classes  of  1923  and  1924  were  chosen. 
The  extent  of  their  occupational 
careers  is,  therefore,  Umited. 

Available  data  included  the  follow- 
ing items : 

1.  Results  of  psychological  tests 
administered  in  the  fall  of  1919. 
Among  these  tests  were  included  (a) 
arithmetic  test,  (6)  algebra  test,  (c) 
geometry  test,  (d)  physics  test,  and 
(e)  technical  information  test,  com- 
prising the  Thurstone  Vocational 
Guidance  Tests  and  an  "intelligence" 
test  prepared  by  Dr.  L.  L.  Thurstone. 

2.  Scholastic  standing — a  combi- 
nation of  marks  earned  by  students  in 
all  courses  during  their  period  of 
college  residence. 

3.  Participation  in  extra-curricular 
activities — compiled  from  records  of 
the  Bureau  of  Recommendations  and 
personal  sketches  printed  in  the  class 
annual. 

4.  Importance  of  present  position 
held  by  the  graduate. 

5.  Yearly  salary  of  graduate. 
Data  on  tests,  scholastic  standing 

and  salary  were  available  in  numerical 
form  but  a  certain  amount  of  subjec- 
tive estimate  entered  into  computation 
of  standings  in  activities  and  impor- 
tance of  position.  The  order  of  relia- 
bility of  the  five  kinds  of  data  from 
highest  to  lowest  reHabilities  runs  as 
follows:  tests,  scholastic  standing, 
salary,  activity  ratings,  and  impor- 
tance of  position  ratings. 

Certain  combinations  of  criteria 
were  also  used  in  the  present  investiga- 
tions.    They  were: 

1.  Average  of  scholastic  rating  plus 
activity  participation  rating. 

2.  Average  of  scholastic  rating  plus 


activity  participation  rating  plus  me- 
dian rating  on  six  tests. 

3.  Average  of  scholastic  rating  plus 
activity  participation  rating  plus  posi- 
tion rating. 

4.  Average  of  scholastic  rating  and 
salary  rating. 

5.  Average  of  scholastic  rating  and 
position  rating. 

6.  Average  of  scholastic  rating  plus 
activity  participation  rating  plus  aver- 
age standing  on  arithmetic,  algebra 
and  physics  test,  combined. 

STATISTICAL   PROCEDURE 

For  convenience  and  standardiza- 
tion of  treatment  of  all  data  involved, 
the  available  facts  in  the  instance  of 
each  criterion  were  reduced  to  five 
categories.  The  Pearson  method  of 
correlation  was  then  used  to  determine 
the  extent  of  the  relationships  existing 
among  the  various  criteria  and  com- 
binations of  criteria.  The  use  of  five 
categories  probably  had  the  effect  of 
making  all  correlations  appear  smaller 
than  they  were  in  fact.  The  exact 
meaning  for  purposes  of  prediction  of 
correlations  reported  in  the  present 
investigation  is  shown  in  table  10, 
which  appears  near  the  close  of  this 
report. 

RESULTS 

Table  1  shows  the  correlations  be- 
tween specific  factors  arranged  in  the 
order  of  their  magnitude.  Tables  2  to 
9  show  the  same  correlations  arranged 
in  order  of  magnitude  but  classified 
according  to  the  factor  being  pre- 
dicted. 

Correlations  contained  in  tables  1  to 
9  may  be  interpreted  by  means  of 
table  10  in  the  following  manner. 


346         Beatty  and  Cleeton:  Predicting  Achievement 


TABLE  1 
Coefficients  of  correlation 


-0.250 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Activities 

-0.206 

Geometry  Test 

with  Activities 

-0.155 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Activities 

-0.116 

Technical  Information 

Test 

with  Activities 

-0.061 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Salary 

-0.022 

Scholarship 

with  Activities 

-0.017 

Geometry  Test 

with  Position 

-0.016 

Physics  Test 

with  Activities 

-0.012 

Physics  Test 

with  Salary 

-0.011 

Technical  Information 

Test 

with  Salary 

0.005 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities- 
Position 

0.011 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Salary 

0.016 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Position 

0.016 

Geometry  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities- 
Position 

0.016 

Geometry  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities 

0.017 

Technical  Information  Test 

with  Position 

0.022 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Activities 

0.023 

Geometry  Test 

with  Salary 

0.027 

Scholarship 

with  Salary 

0.033 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Scholarship-Salary 

0.055 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Scholarship-Position 

0.055 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities 

0.055 

Algebra  Test 

with  Activities 

0.056 

Activities 

with  Salary 

0.061 

Algebra  Test 

with  Salary 

0.083 

Intelligence  Test 

with  Scholarship 

0.083 

Scholarship 

with  Position 

0.094 

Technical  Information  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities 

0.100 

Scholarsbip-Activities-Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Salary 

0.111 

Geometry  Test 

with  Scholarship-Position 

0.111 

Scholarship-Activities-Median  of  Three  Tests 

with  Salary 

0.122 

Geometry  Test 

with  Scholarship 

0.122 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Scholarship-Activities 

0.123 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities 

0.123 

Activities 

with  Position 

0.127 

Technical  Information 

Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities- 
Position 

0.127 

Geometry  Test 

with  Scholarship-Salary 

0.128 

Algebra  Test 

with  Position 

0.133 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Salary 

0.138 

Scholarship-Activities 

with  Position 

0.166 

Physics  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities- 
Position 

0.167 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities- 
Position 

0.172 

Scholarship-Activities 

with  Salary 

0.173 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Position 

Beatty  and  Cleeton:  Predicting  Achievement         347 


TABLE  1— Continued 


0.177 

Technical  Information  Test 

with  Scholarship-Salary 

0.188 

Physics  Test 

with  Position 

0.188 

Algebra  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities 

0.189 

Technical  Information  Test 

with  Scholarship-Position 

0.194 

Physics  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities 

0.195 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Scholarship-Activities- 
Position 

0.200 

Scholarship- Activities-Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Position 

0.201 

Algebra  Test 

with  Scholarship-Activities- 
Position 

0.208 

Scholarship-Activities-Median  of  Three  Tests 

with  Position 

0.222 

Algebra  Test 

with  Scholarship-Salary 

0.227 

Algebra  Test 

with  Scholarship-Position 

0.238 

Algebra  Test 

with  Scholarship 

0.239 

Technical  Information  Test 

with  Scholarship 

0.261 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Position 

0.305 

Physics  Test 

with  Scholarship-Salary 

0.306 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Scholarship 

0.311 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Scholarship-Salary 

0.316 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Scholarship-Salary 

0.322 

Physics  Test 

with  Scholarship 

0.356 

Median  of  All  Tests 

with  Scholarship-Position 

0.372 

Physics  Test 

with  Scholarship-Position 

0.383 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Scholarship 

0.388 

Arithmetic  Test 

with  Scholarship-Position 

TABLE  2 

TABLE  4 

Scholarship  with: 

Activities -0.022 

Intelligence  Test 0.083 

Geometry  Test 0. 122 

Algebra  Test 0.238 

Technical  Information  Test 0 .  239 

Median  of  Tests 0.306 

Physics  Test 0.322 

Arithmetic  Test 0.383 


TABLE  3 

Activities  with: 

Arithmetic  Test -0.250 

Geometry  Test -0.206 

Median  of  Tests —0. 155 

Technical  Information  Test —0. 116 

Scholarship -0.022 

Physics  Test -0.016 

Intelligence  Test 0.022 

Algebra  Test 0.055 


Position  with: 

Geometry  Test -0.017 

Intelligence  Test 0.016 

Technical  Information  Test 0.017 

Scholarship 0.083 

Activities 0. 123 

Algebra  Test 0. 128 

Scholarship-Activities 0. 138 

Median  of  Tests 0.173 

Physics  Test 0.188 

Scholarship- Activities-Median     of 

All  Tests 0.200 

Scholarship-Activities-]\Iedian     of 

Three  Tests 0.208 

Arithmetic  Test 0.261 


TABLE  5 

Salary  with: 

Intelligence  Test -0.061 

Physics  Test -0.012 


348         Beatty  and  Cleeton:  Predicting  Achievement 


TABLE  5— Continued 

Salary  with — Con.: 

Technical  Information  Test —0.011 

Median  of  Tests 0.011 

Geometry  Tests 0.023 

Scholarship 0.027 

Activities 0.056 

Algebra 0.061 

Scholarship-Activities-Median  of 

All  Tests 0.100 

Scholarship-Activities-Median  of 

Three  Tests 0.111 

Arithmetic  Test 0. 133 

Scholarship-Activities 0. 172 

TABLE  6 

Scholarship  and  Activities  with: 

Geometry  Test 0.016 

Intelligence  Test 0.055 

Technical  Information  Test 0.094 

Median  of  Tests 0. 122 

Arithmetic  Test 0. 123 

Algebra  Test 0. 188 

Physics  Test 0. 194 

TABLE  7 

Scholarship  and  Position  with: 

Intelligence  Test 0.055 

Geometry  Test 0.  HI 


TABLE  1— Continued 

Scholarship  and  Position  with — Con.: 

Technical  Information  Test 0. 189 

Algebra  Test 0.227 

Median  of  Tests 0.356 

Physics  Test 0.372 

Arithmetic  Test 0.388 


TABLE  8 

Scholarship-Activities-Position  with : 

Intelligence  Test 0.005 

Geometry  Test 0.016 

Technical  Information  Test 0. 127 

Physics  Test 0. 166 

Arithmetic  Test 0. 167 

Median  of  Test 0  195 

Algebra  Test 0.201 

TABLE  9 

Scholarship-  and  Salary  with: 

Intelligence  Test 0.033 

Geometry  Test 0. 127 

Technical  Information  Test 0. 177 

Algebra  Test 0.222 

Physics  Test 0.305 

Arithmetic  Test 0.311 

Median  of  Tests 0 .  316 


TABLE  10 

Significance  of  various  correlations  for  prediction 


WHEN  THE 
CORB  ELATION  18: 

THE  FROBABLE 
ERROB  is: 

■«  here  chance  prediction  is  represented  by  the  r.4.tio  of  1  to 
l.the  ch.ance8  th.*.t  a  person  will  be  accurately  placed 
above  or  below  average  on  the  anticip-vted   varl4blb 
by  predictinq  from  the  known  variable  are:    (.^.pproxi- 
mately) 

0.000 

0.071 

1         to  1 

The    average    error    of    these 

0.100 

0.070 

1.25  to  1 

ratios  is  0.097.     Ratios  and 

0.150 

0.069 

1.50  to  1 

average    error    were    deter- 

0.200 

0.068 

1.75  to  1 

mined  empirically 

0.250 

0.066 

2.00  to  1 

0.300 

0.064 

2.25  to  1 

0.350 

0.062 

2.50  to  1 

0.380 

0.061 

2.65  to  1 

0.400 

0.060 

2.70  to  1 

In  any  group  the  chances  are  2.65  to 
1  that  persons  who  earn  above  average 
scores  on  the  arithmetic  test  will  prove 


to  be  above  average  in  scholarship. 
Likewise  the  chances  are  2.65  to  1  that 
persons  below  average  on  the  arith- 


Beatty  and  Cleeton:  Predicting  Achievement 


349 


metic  test  will  prove  to  be  below  aver- 
age in  scholarship.  Negative  correla- 
tions are  interpreted  inversely.  For 
instance,  the  chances  are  2  to  1  that 
persons  who  earn  above  average  scores 
on  the  arithmetic  test  will  prove  to  be 
below  average  in  participation  in  extra- 
curricular activities. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  data  of  the  experiments  were 
hmited,  therefore  verification  of  find- 
ings is  quite  definitely  needed.  With- 
in the  hmits  of  available  data,  how- 
ever, the  following  conclusions  seem 
pertinent : 

1.  Correlations  between  scholarship 
and  the  median  of  aU  six  tests,  scholar- 
ship and  the  physics  test,  scholarship 
and  the  arithmetic  test,  are  higher 
than  correlations  between  anj-  of  the 
other  tests  and  any  of  the  other  accom- 
plishment ratings.  Correlations  of  the 
three  test  ratings  mentioned  above 
with  combined  scholarship  and  posi- 
tion ratings  are  slightly  higher  than 
those  between  test  ratings  and  scholar- 
ship alone.  The  arithmetic  test  is 
outstanding  in  the  predictive  signifi- 
cance shown  throughout  the  entire 
investigation. 

2.  Correlations  obtained  between 
tests  and  complete  scholarship  records 
agree  in  some  respect  with  correlations 
obtained  between  the  same  tests  and 
fii-st-year  engineering  scholarship  rec- 
ords and  disagree  in  other  respects. 
This  is  shown  in  table  1 1 . 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  a  large 
number  of  students  included  in  the 
first-year  engineering  scholarship  cor- 
relations were  not  included  in  the 
complete  scholarship  correlations  and 


these  usually  the  poorer  students,  the 
continued  predictive  value  of  four  of 
the    tests   is    especially   encouraging. 

3.  The  poor  showing  made  by  the 
"inteUigence"  test  may  be  accounted 
for  in  several  ways: 

a.  The  initial  correlation  with  first- 
year  scholarship  is  low  (0.29)  compared 
with  results  obtained  with  other  intelli- 
gence or  general  mental  abiUty  tests 
now  in  use.     Correlations  around  0.50 

TABLE  11 


Intelligence  Test 

Geometry'  Test 

Technical  Information  Test 

Algebra  Test 

Median  of  All  Tests 

Physics  Test 

Arithmetic  Test 


Si*- 

f<  o  ^ 
«  s  t" 


0.29 
0.30 
0.23 
0.42 

0.34 
0.38 


ta  t> 
n  o 


"  H  M 

J  o  B 

e<  o  a 

s  s  S 


0.084 
0.122 
0.238 
0.239 
0.306 
0.322 
0.383 


*  Thurstone,  L.  L.  "Manual  of  Direc- 
tions, Thurstone  Vocational  Guidance 
Tests."  World  Book  Company,  New  York, 
1922.    Page  12. 

between  first-year  scholarship  and 
general  mental  abihty  tests  now  in 
use  are  frequently  obtained. 

h.  The  complete  scholarship  record 
of  an  engineering  college  graduate 
represents  a  highly  speciahzed  type  of 
achievement.  The  first-year  record 
is  more  a  measure  of  general  abihty 
than  is  the  four  year  record.  Since 
the  "inteUigence"  test  is  supposedly 
a  measure  of  general  abihty,  it  should, 
logically,  be  more  indicative  of  gen- 
eral achievement  than  of  speciahzed 


350 


Beatty  and  Cleeton:  Predicting  Achievement 


achievement.  It  may  be  that  a  gen- 
eral mental  ability  test  decreases  in 
significance  as  specialization  progresses, 
c.  So-called  intelligence  tests  differ 
in  characteristics.  What  one  intelU- 
gence  test  shows  under  given  circum- 
stances is  not  of  necessity  a  criterion  of 
what  may  be  expected  of  other  intelli- 
gence tests  in  the  same  circumstances. 
The  dropping  off  in  significance  of 
correlation  between  first  year  and 
graduation  may  be  a  peculiarity  of  the 
particular  test  used. 

4.  While  correlations  reported  in 
this  investigation  are  all  below  0.40, 
there  is  reason  to  beheve  that  future 
studies  will  show  higher  correlations. 
The  basis  for  this  hope  lies  in  the  fact 
that  tests  now  in  use  in  the  institu- 
tions where  this  investigation  was  con- 
ducted show  a  high  initial  correlation 
with  first-year  scholarship  records. 
By  use  of  a  system  of  weighing  of 
tests  of  general  mental  ability  and 
tests  of  high  school  achievement,  cor- 
relations between  0.60  and  0.65  are 
obtained.^ 

5.  Correlations  between  participa- 
tion in  activities  and  salary  and  be- 
tween participation  in  activities  and 
position  rating  are  too  low  to  be  con- 
sidered significant.  Participation  in 
activities  may  have  bearing  on  certain 
kinds  of  after-college  achievements  and 
not  on  others.  For  example,  it  seems 
probable  that  certain  positions  in 
business  and  industry  might  put  more 
emphasis  on  the  social  qualities  under- 

*  Preliminary  report  of  tests  and  tech- 
niques used  appear  in  an  article  by  Cleeton, 
Glen  U.  "The  Predictive  Value  of 
Measures  of  Ability  in  College  Freshmen." 
Journal  of  Educational  Research,  May,  1927. 


lying  extensive  participation  in  activi- 
ties than  would  other  positions.  This 
fact  was  not  sought  in  the  present 
investigation.  That  participation  in 
activities  is  predictable  to  a  certain 
extent  is  shown  by  the  -0.25  correla- 
tion between  the  arithmetic  test  and 
activity  ratings.  The  prediction, 
however,  would  be  inverse:  a  low  score 
on  the  arithmetic  test  meaning  that  the 
chances  were  about  2  to  1  that  partic- 
ipation in  activities  would  be  better 
than  average. 

6.  That  the  best  tests  for  predicting 
scholarship  and  combinations  of  test, 
activity,  and  scholarship  ratings  pre- 
dict importance  of  position  while 
scholarship  ratings  taken  alone  are  not 
significant  suggests  a  need  for  a  de- 
tailed study  to  determine  the  reason. 
Our  data  throw  no  light  on  this  puz- 
zling fact. 

7.  None  of  the  several  variables 
available  for  predicting  salary  show 
any  particular  promise.  Scholarship 
and  activities  combined  suggest  possi- 
bilities but  the  correlation  is  only 
about  1.6  to  1  better  than  chance  for 
predicting  salary  above  or  below 
average.  Neither  scholarship  nor  ac- 
tivities taken  alone  has  predictive 
significance. 

8.  Combining  scholarship  and  ac- 
tivities, scholarship  and  salary,  or 
scholarship-activities-position,  has  a 
tendency  to  reduce  correlations,  indi- 
cating that  these  combinations  are 
carried  along  by  the  scholarship  and 
test  correlations.  Combining  scholar- 
ship and  position  does  not  change  the 
correlations  obtained  to  any  appre- 
ciable degree  as  compared  with  corre- 
lations between  scholarship  and  tests. 


Beatty  and  Cleeton:  Predicting  Achievement         351 

9.  A  system  of  weighing  the  various  scope  of  the  data.  Such  a  procedure 
achievement  factors  and  test  variables  was  not  used  in  the  present  study  but 
might  increase  the  size  of  the  correla-  recommends  itself  for  use  in  future 
tions.  The  significance  of  weights  investigations  which  may  involve  more 
thus  obtained  would  not  be  reliably  comprehensive  data, 
indicated  in  the  present  investiga- 
tion, however,  because  of  the  limited  {Manuscript  received  November  SO,  1927.) 


\ 


Measuring  Introversion  and  Extroversion 

By  Theodosia  C.  Hewlett  and  Olive  P.  Lester,  University  of  Buffalo 

The  concepts  of  the  introvert  and  the  extrovert  have  piqued  the 
curiosity  of  research  workers  as  well  as  laymen  since  they  were  first 
presented  by  Jung  and  other  psychoanalists.  The  point  that  has 
bothered  most  investigators  is  the  determination  of  just  what  traits 
belong  to  the  two  constellations  by  which  these  contrasting  personality 
types  are  characterized.  Many  have  questioned  the  existence  of  any 
such  constellations  of  traits  or  such  two  types  of  personalities. 
The  authors  of  the  present  study  have  aimed  to  bring  simplicity 
and  objectivity  to  the  problem,  by  limiting  themselves  to  '^ expressive- 
ness^^ as  the  fundamental  trait  of  extroversion,  and  measuring  this 
trait  objectively  in  the  personal  interview. 

The  object  of  this  experiment  was  to  find  an  objective  measure  of 
introversion  and  extroversion.  A  prehminary  selection  of  two  groups 
of  Freshman  girls — twenty  introverts  and  twenty  extroverts — was 
based  upon  a  self-rating  on  six  traits.  These  forty  subjects  were  then 
interviewed  upon  several  questions  of  interest.  The  subjects  were 
graded  as  either  extrovert  or  introvert  by  the  amount  of  "expressive- 
ness" shown  in  the  interview.  This  objective  measure  of  expressiveness 
or  extroversion  gave  a  correlation  of  0.064  with  the  self-ratings  upon 
which  the  groups  were  selected;  0.068  with  intelligence  test  scores; 
0.40  with  the  Gilliland  Test  of  Sociability;  and  0.603  with  the  Dean 
of  Women's  estimate  of  the  introversion  or  extroversion  of  these  girls. 

ORIGINATING  with  Jung,  the  overt  conduct."     Max  Freyd^  in  the 

terms  introversion  and  extro-  Psychological  Review  has  contributed 

version  denoting  contrasting  an  excellent  summary  of  the  work  that 

types   of   personality   have   shown   a  has  been  done  on  this  problem  of  per- 

decided  tendency  to  cling  and  become  sonality  types.     Various  definitions  of 

a  permanent  part  of  the  nomenclature  the  terms  introvert  and  extrovert,  such 

of  psychology.     In  observing  people,  as     those     of     McDougall,     Allport, 

we  seem  to  feel  that  in  general  they  Kempf,  Hinkle,  "White  and  others  are 

may  be  fitted  into  those  rather  vague  presented  and  different  explanations 

categories  "withdrawal  from  reality"  given.     It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to 
and  "emphasis  on  thought  processes,"  ,  ^^^^^^   ^^^^      "introverts  and  Extro- 

versus   the   "facmg   of   reality,"    and  verts."    Psychological    Review,    Vol.    31, 

"the  ready  issuance  of  thought  into  1924. 

352 


Hewlett  and  Lester  :  Measuring  Introversion 


353 


review  these  theories,  but  rather  to 
turn  to  the  question  raised  by  Freyd 
in  his  conclusion — that  question  of 
differentiating  between  the  introvert 
and  the  extrovert,  behavioristically. 

We  meet  those  individuals  who  have 
a  tendency  to  "reach-out"  as  it  were 
and  make  social  contacts,  and  on  the 
other  hand  there  is  the  retiring,  timid 
type.  In  the  college  situation  this 
type  of  person  presents  a  particularly 
difficult  problem,  though  here  of  course 
it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  one  is  not 
speaking  of  the  extreme  t5T)es  of  in- 
troversion and  extroversion.  The 
benefits  of  college  training  in  its  larger 
aspects  do  not  accrue  to  this  group. 
The  writers  are  not  in  a  position  to 
make  a  generalization  about  college 
men  of  this  type,  but  how  often  in 
political  and  educational  meetings, 
and  other  situations  does  one  come 
upon  women,  college-trained,  who 
seem  utterly  incapable  of  participating 
actively  and  putting  their  ideas  before 
a  group,  that  is  "letting  themselves 
go."  Many  of  these  women  have 
insight  into  themselves,  reahze  their 
deficiencies  and  inadequacies  in  their 
daily  social  contacts  and  have  ex- 
pressed their  regrets  that  their  four 
years  of  college  training  did  nothing 
toward  this  "expressive"  development 
of  the  self.  The  problem  arises  as  to 
whether  or  not  the  college  through  its 
Personnel  Office  or  Dean  of  Women 
or  any  other  administrative  branch 
concerned  wdth  such  problems  can 
locate  these  "timidity"  cases  and 
offer  some  kind  of  recommendations 
toward  the  more  complete  adjustment 
and  participation  of  these  people  in 
the  college  situation  and  later  in  the 
social  adjustment  of  adult  life.     There 


seems  to  be  a  decided  need  of  differ- 
entiating between  the  "introvert"  and 
the  "extrovert"  objectively  with  a 
method  entirely  independent  of  the 
present  much  used  subjective  proce- 
dures.^  The  present  study  is  an  at- 
tempt to  apply  an  objective  measure 
to  the  amount  of  talking  a  student 
does.  This  degree  or  amount  of  ex- 
pansion has  been  conveniently  termed 
"expressiveness."  In  other  words,  we 
have  attempted  to  measure  an  individ- 
ual's oral  beha\dor  and  to  use  this 
objective  measure  as  significant  of  one 
aspect  of  his  sociability  (extro- 
version) . 

SELECTION    OF   CASES 

"We  obtained  our  group  of  40  girls, 
upon  which  the  study  is  based,  by 
means  of  a  subjective  rating  chart 
which  all  of  the  eighty-five  Freshman 
girls  had  filled  out  at  the  beginning 
of  the  semester.  This  chart  called 
for  the  estimate  by  the  rater  of  herself 
on  six  traits  pertaining  to  her 
sociability  as  shown  on  page  354. 

The  scoring  ranged  from  a  plus  2, 
meaning  the  rater  felt  she  had  an 
abundance  of  the  trait  in  question, 
down  to  a  minus  2,  meaning  that  she 
felt  that  she  was  quite  lacking  in  that 
trait.  A  zero  stood  for  average. 
Thus,  we  totalled  the  subjective  rat- 
ings of  each  Freshman  on  the  six 
traits.  There  were  20  Freshmen  who 
had  total  scores  of  plus  4  or  over  and 

-  We  have  already  implied  that  we  are 
using  the  terms  synonomously  with  ex- 
pressiveness, readiness  and  ease  in  making 
social  contacts,  social  mindedness,  and  their 
opposites  respectively,  and  in  no  sense  are 
we  using  the  terms  to  indicate  extreme 
cases. 


354  Hewlett  and  Lester:  ^Measuring  Introversion 


these  we  called,  for  the  sake  of  con- 
venience, our  "extrovert"  group. 
Exactly  20  other  Freshmen  had  minus 
totals, — that  is,  every  Freshman,  ex- 
cept these  twenty,  had  a  plus  score 
even  if  only  a  plus  1 ;  and  therefore,  we 
called  these  twenty  our  "introvert" 
group.  Thus  our  final  two  groups 
selected  from  90  students,  consisted  of 
20  introverts  (group  I)  and  20  extro- 
verts (group  II).     It  is  interesting  to 


measuring  extroversion,  we  were 
anxious  to  attempt  another  and  more 
objective  measure  of  one's  expressive- 
ness. This  resulted  in  an  interview 
with  each  of  the  40  Freshmen,  con- 
sisting of  12  questions  or  statement 
topics.  The  fact  that  a  large  number 
of  the  topics  were  in  statement  rather 
than  question  form  proved  interesting 
during  the  course  of  the  interview, — 
for  example,  a  statement  such  as  the 


Unusual  control  of  temper 
Complete  confidence 
Constant  worrying 
Decided  grit 
Good  mixer 
Decided  initiative 


Ave. 


Ave. 


Ave. 


Ave. 


Ave. 


Ave. 


I  Lack  of  control 
I  Lacking  confidence 


I  Little  or  no  worry 
J  Lacking  grit 
J  Awkward  in  meeting  others 

I  Quite  docile 


note  at  this  point  that,  when  three 
months  later  the  self-rating  scale  was 
again  presented  to  the  Freshmen  to 
fill  out  for  the  purpose  of  discovering 
the  degree  of  similarity  between  the 
two  estimates,  we  found  that  there 
was  comparatively  little  variance  be- 
tween the  two;  for  example,  only  20 
out  of  72  girls  changed  their  totals 
more  than  5  points,  or  27  per  cent. 
In  our  special  group  of  40,  9  or  22 
per  cent  changed  in  their  estimates 
more  than  5  points.  The  reliability 
correlation  in  the  larger  group  is  0.62 
and  in  our  particular  study  group  the 
correlation  was  0.71, 

DESCRIPTION   AND   TECHNIQUE    OF   THE 
INTERVIEW 

Suspecting  the  unreliability  and  sub- 
jectivity of  the  self-rating  method  of 


eighth  on  the  subject  of  "evolution 
versus  religion"  concluded  with  the 
assertion,  "Our  state  should  pass  legis- 
lation prohibiting  the  teaching  of 
evolution  in  our  high  schools  and 
colleges."  One  would  expect  that 
such  an  assertion,  even  though  not  in 
grammatical  question  form,  would 
serve  as  a  potent  stimulus  and  chal- 
lenge to  the  student  being  interviewed, 
and  yet,  more  than  a  few  failed  to  take 
up  the  argument  when  the  interviewer 
hesitated  at  this  point.  However, 
some  other  students  seized  upon  this 
opportunity  even  though  not  chal- 
lenged with  a  direct  question,  to  ex- 
pand upon  the  subject  and  express 
their  opinions  without  hesitation. 
Would  it  not  appear,  then,  that  the 
students  in  the  latter  group  are  more 
"extrovert?"     The  objection  may  be 


Hewlett  and  Lester:  Measuring  Introversion  355 


raised  that  the  reason  for  the  lack  of 
response  in  some  cases  might  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  fact  that  certain  of  the 
topics  presented  were  too  remote  from 
the  students'  daily  experiences  to  be 
conducive  to  fluent  expression  of 
opinion.  To  answer  this  objection, 
the  writers  would  say  that  particular 
care  was  taken  to  introduce  such  sub- 
jects as  would  be  familiar  to  the 
average  college  Freshman,  and  of 
enough  vital  interest  to  arouse  dis- 
cussion. 

However,  in  every  case  we  aimed  to 
make  the  student  feel  that  we  sought 
her  particular  opinion  on  the  subject, 
at  the  same  time  assuring  her  that  it 
would  not  later  be  used  in  a  personal 
connection.  Thus,  even  if  a  student 
did  not  wish  to  express  her  views  on  a 
certain  subject,  we  had  a  measure  of 
her  expansiveness  by  the  extent  to 
which  she  defended  her  non-committal 
position.  In  other  words,  we  were 
interested  in  the  amount  of  talking 
that  the  student  did  (her  overt  be- 
havior) while  she  beheved  we  were 
concerned  solely  with  the  opinion  that 
she  expressed.  It  should  be  under- 
stood also  that  the  writers  were  inter- 
ested in  the  repUes  that  the  students 
gave;  and  often  the  discussion,  "give 
and  take,"  between  student  and  inter- 
viewer extended  well  beyond  the  ap- 
pointed twenty  or  thirty  minutes. 
Indeed,  we  felt  a  good  part  of  the 
discussion  to  be  extremely  logical  and 
thoughtful  for  college  Freshmen. 

The  following  are  the  12  statements 
and  questions  in  exactly  the  form  that 
that  they  were  presented  by  the  inter- 
viewer to  each  Freshman : 

1.  Do  you  belong  to  a  sorority?  What 
is  the  good  of  a  sorority  and  why  do  you 


belong  to  one,  if  you  do?    If  you  don't 
why  don't  you? 

2.  You  are  a  Catholic,  Jew,  Protestant? 
Why? 

3.  The  Dean  of  the  College  is  anxious  to 
form  a  new  debating  society  and  he  wants 
all  students  who  are  interested  to  join — 
I  suppose  you  wouldn't  be  interested  in  it 
at  all. 

4.  I  suppose  you  would  agree  that  if 
you  were  caught  cheating  you  ought  to  be 
expelled  from  college  immediately. 

5.  In  regard  to  the  matter  of  trial  mar- 
riages you  probably  know  there  is  in  every 
society  a  group  of  people  who  are  accepting 
the  practice  of  persons  living  together 
without  being  married. 

6.  Doubtless  your  father  and  mother 
feel  that  they  wouldn't  for  a  minute  have 
you  associating  with,  far  less  be  best  friends 
with  illegitimate  children.  In  fact,  they 
wouldn't  even  want  you  to  be  in  classes  in 
the  University  with  such  children.  And 
of  course  you  agree  with  them. 

7.  College  students  in  China  are  playing 
a  leading  r61e  in  freeing  China  from  the 
domination  and  oppression  of  foreign 
powers.  I  don't  believe  American  students 
would  do  as  much  for  America. 

8.  It  appears  that  the  doctrine  of  evolu- 
tion is  contrary  to  certain  religious  train- 
ing; and  hence  our  state  should  pass  legisla- 
tion prohibiting  the  teaching  of  evolution 
in  high  school  and  college. 

9.  Society  is  justified  in  condemning 
petting  parties  of  young  people  on  the 
grounds  of  immorality  and  indecent  be- 
havior. 

10.  If  you  were  voting  next  fall  on  any 
matter  pertaining  to  the  modification  of 
the  Volstead  Act,  as  a  loyal  citizen  of  the 
United  States  you  would  certainly  vote 
against  any  modification  of  the  Prohibition 
law. 

11.  Girls  who  work  their  way  through 
college,  partly  or  entirely,  should  not  be 
considered  on  the  same  social  level  as  those 
who  do  not. 

12.  In  case  you  remember  any  of  the  con- 
victions which  you  registered  on  the  Ques- 
tionnaire blank  last  fall,  to  what  extent  do 
you  think  you  have  changed  in  your  views 
since  that  time? 


356 


HEWT.ETT  AND  Lester:  Measuring  Introversion 


We  attempted  to  develop  a  uniform  on  the  more  intimate  phases  of  the 
technique  in  scoring  in  order  to  rule  topic  and  state  his  conviction  about  it. 
out  such  subjective  factors  on  the  part  On  the  whole  it  was  rather  easy  to 
of  the  scorer  as  prejudice  and  feelings  determine  the  kind  of  replies  that 
of  fatigue  from  day  to  day  (the  inter-  deserved  a  score  of  3. 
views  covered  the  greater  part  of  four  Table  1  indicates  the  three  quartile 
weeks) .  Thus  we  felt  that  a  standard  points  and  average  deviation  for  the 
method  of  attack  on  the  problem  could  scores  obtained  in  the  interview, 
be  maintained  throughout.  A  mathe-  Two  other  points  in  our  technique 
matical  basis  from  0  to  3  was  estab-  worth  noting,  perhaps,  were  (1)  that 
hshed  and  employed  in  this  way.  If  the  same  interviewer  was  used 
after  the  topic  was  presented  by  the  throughout,  and  (2)  that  the  inter- 
interviewer,  the  student  made  no  reply  viewer  was  checked  in  her  scoring  by 
or  shook  his  head  yes  or  no,  we  gave  a  her  co-worker  who  was  present  during 
score  of  zero.  The  interviewer  might  all  the  interviews.  The  presence  of 
then  elucidate  further  and  discover  another  person  in  no  way  created  an 
some  hidden  opinion  held  by  the  unnatural  or  artificial  situation,  since 
student,  but  this  could  not  be  counted  the  office  in  which  the  interviews  were 
in  the  score  which  was  recorded.  A  held  was  customarily  occupied  by  two 
score   of    1    was   recorded   when   the 

student  responded  with  a  simple  nega-     '^^^^^^  ^ 

tive   or   afi&rmative   answer  such   as     q^ 13.5 

"Yes,  I  think  so,  but  I  don't  approve     Median 16.5 

myself;"  or  "I  would  like  to  do  so  but     Qs 18-4 

have  never  had  the  chance."    A  score     ^'^^  ^^^' ^  '^ 

of   2   was   given   when   the   student 

followed  up  his  positive  or  negative  persons,  and  the  Freshmen  were  in  the 
answer  or  even  his  expressed  doubt  habit  of  seeing  both  persons  there  on 
with  two  or  three  reasons  why  he  took  other  occasions.  There  was  remark- 
such  a  stand;  in  some  cases  the  student  able  similarity  in  the  scores  given  by 
would  introduce  relevant  or  irrelevant  the  two  raters,  and  since  the  results 
examples  or  bring  in  personal  experi-  ^ere  discussed  by  the  two  immediately 
ences;  he  was  then  scored  with  regard  following  the  interview,  discrepancies 
to  the  amount  that  he  thus  expanded  could  be  noted  and  a  compromise 
and  not  with  regard  to  the  logic  or  reached, 
wit  of  his  statements.    The  student 

scored    3    when    he    expanded    even  other  tests  employed 

further;   in   such    cases   the    student  ^^^    Sociability   test«    devised    by 

needed  no  stimulus  from  the  mter-  ^.^^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  Northwestern 

viewer.     Usually    he    gave    his    own  University  was  given  to  the  Group  I. 

opmion  freely  as  well  as  referring  to  ^^^  directions  and  methods  of  scoring 
the  opmion  of  others  on  the  subject. 

He  would  often  quote  his  own  experi-  3  <'a  Measure  of  Sociability."    Journal 

ences  and  confide  in  the  interviewer  of  Applied  Psychology,  September,  1920. 


Hewlett  and  Lester:  Measuring  Introversion  357 


they  used  were  followed  throughout. 
The  correlations  between  this  measure 
and  the  interview,  and  other  ratings 
are  given  in  table  2  below. 

The  other  ratings  against  which  our 
interview  was  checked  were  those  of 
the  Dean  of  Women.  She  was  asked 
to  rate  the  40  Freshman  girls  as  to 
their  expressiveness,  sociability,  ease 
at  mixing,  etc.  Directions  were  given 
that  the  terms  extroversion  and  intro- 
version were  to  be  inclusive  of  all  the 
traits  or  their  negatives  just  mentioned 
above.  Thus  "1"  represented  the  ex- 
treme introvert;  "2,"  introvert;  "3," 
average;  "4,"  extrovert;  "5,"  extreme 
extrovert.  It  may  be  added  that  this 
study  was  carried  on  during  the  second 
semester  of  the  college  year  1926-1927 
and  that  the  Dean  of  Women  through 
her  personal  conferences  and  her  con- 
nection with  the  Freshman  girls  had 
come  to  know  them  most  intimately 
and  therefore  her  opinions  are  to  be 
regarded  with  considerable  weight. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  Freshman 
girls  rated  themselves  they  submitted 
in  the  blank  other  material  that 
afforded  an  insight  into  their  fanuly 
conditions,  their  outside  activities  and 
the  like.  Some  of  these  factors  which 
may  be  related  to  or  perhaps  offer  an 
explanation  of  introversion  or  extro- 
version (though  not  of  first  considera- 
tion in  our  study)  may  prove  sug- 
gestive. 

As  regards  intelligence,  Group  I,  the 
introverts,  have  an  average  percentile 
rating  of  36.2  in  comparison  with  an 
average  percentile  rating  of  54.4  for 
the  extroverts.  Group  II.  Sixty-five 
per  cent  of  the  members  of  Group  I  are 
below  the  fiftieth  percentile  point. 
This  appears  contrary  to  the  usual 


finding  that  introverts  as  such  are 
usually  more  inteUigent. 

Considering  a  small  high  school  to 
be  one  in  which  the  Senior  Class  was 
60  or  under,  it  was  found  that  25 
per  cent  of  the  introverts  came  from 
small  high  schools  whereas  45  per  cent 
of  the  extroverts  came  from  small  high 
schools.  Apparently  the  large  city 
high  school  with  an  enrollment  of 
1500  to  2500  students  and  which  was 
the  school  environment  of  75  per  cent 
of  the  introverts  played  its  part  in 
either  causing  or  at  least  furthering  the 
feeUngs  of  inferiority  and  timidity. 
On  the  other  hand  a  small  high  school 
environment  would  appear  to  offer  a 
less  competitive  and  more  open  field 
for  development  of  the  expressive 
aspect  of  the  personahty. 

As  regards  occupation  of  the 
father — whether  professional,  semi- 
professional  and  business,  or  skilled, — 
there  seems  to  be  no  relationships 
between  such  socio-economic  status 
and  the  classification  of  introvert  and 
extrovert. 

Another  negative  finding  was  the 
lack  of  relationship  existing  between 
participation  in  sports  and  captaincies 
of  athletic  teams  and  our  classification. 
We  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  extro- 
verts would  show  a  greater  number  of 
participants  in  the  activities,  but  the 
actual  findings  showed  the  members 
of  both  groups  to  be  equally  active,  as 
far  as  numbers  go,  in  physical  activi- 
ties. 

Position  in  the  family  has  often 
been  accepted  as  a  determining  cause 
of  extroversion  and  introversion.  The 
data  available  on  Groups  I  and  II 
show  five  introverts  to  be  only  children 
as  against  two  extroverts  who  are  the 


358 


Hewlett  and  Lester:  Measuring  Introversion 


only  children  in  the  family.  There 
also  is  shown  a  slight  tendency  for  a 
greater  number  of  extroverts  to  be  the 
younger  or  youngest  member  of  the 
family.  In  this  latter  case,  however, 
there  is  not  enough  difference  between 
the  groups  to  be  significant. 

Several  writers  have  mentioned  the 
possibility  that  introversion  may  be 
due  to  some  physical  defect  in  itself, 
or  to  a  defect  of  which  the  child  is 
constantly  reminded  in  childhood.  It 
was  with  this  in  mind  that  the  medical 
reports  of  Groups  I  and  II  were 
analyzed  to  ascertain  whether  here  one 
group  seemed  superior  physically. 
Two  factors  were  considered  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  medical  ex- 
aminer; the  report  on  past  health,  and 
the  present  health  status.  Those  fac- 
tors taken  into  consideration  for  the 
past  history  were:  more  than  average 
number  of  children's  diseases,  any  one 
very  severe  child's  disease,  operations 
and  accidents.  Under  present  health, 
such  conditions  as  toxic  thyroid, 
anemia,  low  blood  pressure,  and 
posture  were  considered.  Nine  intro- 
verts as  against  three  extroverts 
showed  a  poor  past  history.  As  re- 
gards present  health  condition;  fifteen 
introverts  were  in  a  physical  condition 
not  particularly  conducive  to  the  best 
work  as  against  seven  extroverts. 
This  evidence  seems  fairly  conclusive. 
When  a  later  classification  of  our  40 
cases  was  made  on  the  basis  of  the 
interview,  the  factors  mentioned  above 
were  again  reviewed  and  studied,  with 
the  result  that  the  same  general 
tendencies  prevailed  throughout. 

RESULTS 

Table  2  shows  the  correlations  exist- 
ing between  the  interview  measuring 


introversion  and  extroversion  and 
other  tests  and  rating  scales  measuring 
sociability. 

Table  3  shows  other  correlations 
regarding  the  interrelationships  be- 
tween various  measures  used. 
Though  none  of  these  correlations  are 
particularly  high,  yet  it  is  felt  that 
two  or  three  are  worthy  of  comment. 
When  we  use  what  we  believe  to  be  a 
more  objective  measure  of  introversion 
and  extroversion,  we  necessarily  be- 
come skeptical  of  the  subjective  type  of 
rating   (in  our  study  the   self-rating 

TABLE  2 


Interview   (amount 
of  expression) 


fa 

H 

o 

H 

J 

N 

1 

o  J 

g 

z 

59 
:^i 

H 

IS 

% 
f 

1 

a 

a 
0.603 

a 

0.40 

0.064 

0.068 


TABLE  3 


GILLI- 

TEST  OF 
SOCIABIL- 

mr 

8KLP- 
lUTINQ 
SCALE 

Dean's  Estimate 

0.423 

0.421 

chart).  This  opinion  seems  to  be 
substantiated  by  the  very  low  correla- 
tion of  +0.06  between  our  interview 
and  the  self-rating  scale.  The  short- 
comings of  the  subjective  rating  scale 
are  further  evinced  by  the  fact  that 
out  of  a  total  of  85  Freshman  girls  who 
filled  out  the  entire  Personnel  blank 
which  included  the  self-rating  scale,  26 
made  comments  concerning  the  un- 
social traits  which  they  felt  keenly, 
such  as  excessive  blushing,  stuttering, 
consciousness  of  size,  etc.    Eighteen 


Hewlett  and  Lester:  Measuring  Introversion  359 


of  those,  or  69  per  cent  would  be 
classified  as  introverts  if  such  a  group- 
ing is  made  on  the  basis  of  the  self- 
rating  scale. 

The  relatively  high  correlation  with 
the  Dean  of  Women's  rating  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  she  bases  her 
opinion  of  expressiveness,  sociability 
and  the  like  not  only  on  data  of  a 
subjective  nature  which  her  office  has 
available,  but  also  on  more  objective 
factors,  such  as  behavior  in  her  office, 
at  teas,  class  activities.  These  latter 
considerations  would  tend  to  make 
her  estimate  correlate  well  with  our 
interview. 

Gilliland's  test  is  certainly  less  sub- 
jective than  the  rating  scale;  for, 
whereas  the  self-rating  scale  asks  the 
student  to  estimate  his  own  personaUty 
traits  such  as  confidence,  poise,  grit, 
etc.,  as  superior,  average  and  inferior, 
the  test  used  by  Gilliland  introduces 
objectivity  by  taking  account  of  the 
student's  behavior.  That  is,  he  asks 
the  number  of  parties,  dances  and 
concerts  a  student  attends  per  month; 
how  many  letters  he  writes  and  books 
he  reads.  Then  with  this  data  as  a 
criterion  and  basis,  and  a  quantitative 
scale  as  a  means  of  measurement, 
Gilliland  attempts  to  state  an  individ- 
ual's sociability  or  degree  of  "extro- 
version." This  method  would  be 
valid  enough  if  the  dances,  concerts, 
lectures,  letter  writing,  etc.,  were  the 
only  or  even  the  most  representative 
types  of  overt  behavior.  The  writers 
are  inclined  to  feel  that  this  is  hardly 
an  inclusive  cross-section  of  the  be- 
havior of  the  average  individual. 
However,  for  the  moment,  granted 
that  it  were  a  fair  test  for  one's  socia- 
bility, would  we  not   again  have  to 


place  credence  in  the  subjective  esti- 
mate of  the  student  when  he  attempts 
to  answer  the  questions  as  to  number 
of  parties,  number  of  letters,  and  the 
like!  Again  we  are  faced  with  the 
unreliability  and  doubt  of  an  intro- 
spective report,  dependent  upon  such 
evasive  factors  as  mood,  seriousness  of 
the  individual  at  the  time,  sincerity, 
memory,  and  many  others. 

It  is  with  the  end  in  view,  therefore, 
of  eliminating  as  thoroughly  as  possible 
the  subjective  factor  of  a  student's 
own  report  about  himself  or  his  be- 
havior that  the  writers  devised  the 
method  of  the  interview. 

CONCLUSION 

In  conclusion  then,  the  writers  of 
this  study  have  attempted  to  work 
away  from  the  older  and  more 
subjective  method  of  measuring 
personaUty  traits;  in  its  stead,  has 
been  substituted  what  is  beHeved  to 
be  a  more  objective  method,  specifi- 
cally, the  Interview.  It  is  true  that 
a  group  of  40  is  hardly  large  enough 
from  which  to  deduce  striking  con- 
clusions, and  time  and  opportunity 
permitting,  it  would  be  of  real  interest 
to  carry  on  the  experiment  with 
another  and  larger  group  of  subjects. 
More  objectivity  and  a  greater  control 
might  be  obtained  by  the  presenta- 
tion of  two  sets  of  questions  on  differ- 
ent occasions  by  interviewers  familiar 
with  the  technique. 

It  should  be  observed  also  that 
possibly  the  questions  used  were  too 
intellectual  and  too  highly  speciaHzed 
to  evoke  lengthy  responses  from  the 
students.  When  the  idea  was  a  fairly 
new  one  such  as  the  question  of  the 
Chinese  situation,  often  the  student 


360 


Hewlett  and  Lester:  Measuring  Introversion 


became  reticent  and  failed  to  expound 
on  that  subject.  Another  suggestion 
for  improving  the  technique  of  the 
interview  might  be  further  develop- 
ment and  standardization  of  the  quan- 
titative scoring  which  was  here  em- 
ployed. 

Notwithstanding   these   limitations 


and  other  possible  defects  of  the  test 
of  which  we  are  well  aware,  we  feel 
that  the  method  offers  possibiUty  for 
further  study  on  an  objective  measure- 
ment of  personality  traits  known  as 
"extroversion"  and  "introversion." 

(Manuscript  received  September  30,  1927.) 


Additional  Tests  for  Mechanical  Drawing 

Aptitude' 

By  E.  G.  Stoy,  Institute  for  Juvenile  Research,  Chicago 

Mr.  Stoy  continues  here  the  account  of  his  preliminary  study  of 
mechanical  drawing  aptitude.  He  has  used  additional  tests  and 
improved  methods  of  procedure,  obtaining  results  whose  signifi- 
cance cannot  be  questioned. 

In  the  Personnel  Journal  for  August,  1927,  Mr.  Stoy  described 
an  experiment  in  measuring  mechanical  drawing  aptitude  in  which  six 
out  of  thirteen  tests  gave  vaHd  results.  In  the  present  similar  study 
fifteen  other  tests  were  used  and  the  method  of  procedure  was 
slightly  modified. 

The  subjects  were  freshman  students  in  their  second  semester  of 
mechanical  drawing  at  the  Lane  Technical  High  School,  Chicago.  Five 
instructors  of  six  classes  of  such  students  were  asked  to  select  their  most 
promising  students  solely  as  regards  mechanical  drawing  aptitude.  As 
an  additional  criterion  the  Minnesota  Mechanical  Drawing  Test  A  was 
used,  and  where  the  two  criteria  were  in  disagreement  the  student  was 
omitted  from  the  study.  The  promising  and  unpromising  groups  as 
finally  chosen  consisted  of  twenty-five  each. 

In  eight  of  the  fifteen  tests  the  difference  in  means  between  these 
two  groups  exceeded  three  times  the  error  of  the  difference,  indicating 
decided  validity.  These  tests  in  order  of  validity  are  Thurstone-Jones 
Sketching  Test,  MacQuarrie  Blocks,  MacQuarrie  Tracing,  MacQuarrie 
Pursuit,  MacQuarrie  Location,  Brigham  Series  IV  Test  6,  Parallelo- 
gram Illusion,  and  MacQuarrie  Copying.  The  tests  with  less  validity 
were  Circle  Illusion,  Wiggly  Block,  MacQuarrie  Dotting,  MacQuarrie 
Tapping,  Thurstone-Jones  Hand,  Miiller-Lyer  Illusion,  and  Thurstone- 
Jones  Gear. 


I 


N  A  previous  article-  the  writer  these  thirteen  tests  showed  significant 
described  a  preliminary  study  of  group  differences  in  two  similar  situa- 
thirteen   possible    tests  'for   me- 


chanical    drawing    aptitude.     Six    of  Thurstone  and  to  Dr.  Luton  Ackerson,  for 

direction  on  the  study  and  for  assistance  in 

1  This  is  one  of  a  series  of  articles  pub-  the  analysis  of  results.     The  writer  is  in- 

lished  by  members  of  the  staff  of  the  Illinois  debted  also  to  Mr.  R.  C.  Faubell,  Head  of 

Institute  for  Juvenile  Research,  Chicago,  the  Department  of  Mechanical  Drawing  at 

Dr.  Herman  M.  Adler,  Director.     Series  C,  Lane  Technical  High  School,  Chicago,  for 

Number  110.  his  courtesies  during  this  study. 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  Professor  L.  L.  ^  This  Journal,  August,  1927. 

361 


362 


Stoy:  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


tions;  namely,  Thurst one-Jones  Paper  tests  used 

Folding  test,  :\Iinnesota  Paper  Form  \\',.    (-hose    for    use    in    this   second 

Board,  Downey  Group  Test  V  (Co-  project,  started  in  the  Fall  of  1920, 

ordination     of     Impulses),     Downey  eleven  grou])  tests  and  four  individual 

Group  test  VIII  (Flexibility),  Painted  tests,  all  of  which  were  concerned  with 

Cube  test,  and  Freeman  Puzzle  Box.  spatial     relations,     motility     or     me- 


Illusion 

The  present  article  is  concerned  with  a 
second  preliminary  study,  in  which 
different  tests  and  slightly  different 
methods  were  used. 

THE    PROBLEM 

We  arc  concerned  with  finding  tests 
which  will  differentiate  individuals 
with  aptitude  for  mechanical  drawing 
from  those  without  this  aptitude. 
The  six  tests  mentioned  above,  along 
with  those  shown  to  be  valid  in  this 
study  and  pcn-haps  other  preliminary 
studies,  will  be  used  as  a  single  battery 
for  a  more  refined  study  in  which  a 
random  sample  will  be  used  inst(^ad  of 
two  differentiated  groups.  Tlius,  in 
time,  we  hope  to  be  able  to  predict 
probal)le  success  in  drafting  by  means 
of  vocational  guidance  tests. 


Apparatus 

chanical  ingenuity.     The  group  tests 
were : 

The  seven  tests  comprising  the  Mac- 
Qviarrie  Test  for  Mechanical  Ability.^ 

Brigham's  Test  6  of  Series  IV,''  in  which 
the  subject  estimates  for  comparison 
purposes  the  lengths  of  lines  used  in 
the  construction  of  various  simple 
diagrams. 

Thvu'stonc- Jones  Sketching  Test.* 

Thurstone-Jones  Hand  Tcst.^ 

Thurstone- Jones  Gear  Test.' 

The  individual  tests  used  were  the 
Wiggly  Block  Test^  and  an   illusion 

'  This  Jouriuil,  January,  1927. 

*  Unpublislu'd. 

'^'^  and  '.  See  page  333  ff,  Organization  of 
Vocational  Guidance,  bj-  A.  F.  Payne. 
New  York:  McGraw-Hill  Book  Co.,    1925. 

«  This  Journal,  June,  1927. 


Stoy  :  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


363 


apparatus*  designed  by  the  writer. 
The  apparatus  consists  of  a  frame  into 
which  a  heavy  white  card  9|  inches 
by  20  inches  may  be  inserted.  One 
card  displays  the  Miiller-Lyer  arrow 
illusion,  another  the  circles  illusion, 
and  a  third  the  parallelogram  illusion. 
In  the  last  mentioned  test,  illustrated 
in  the  accompanying  figure,  the  task 
given  the  subject  is  to  move  the  slide 
right  or  left  to  a  point  at  which  the 
diagonal  lines  appear  equal  to  each 
other.  The  illustration  shows  the  full 
effect  of  the  illusion;  that  is,  the  slide 
is  so  placed  that  the  diagonals  are 
equal  in  length.  Three  trials  are 
used.  Readings  are  taken  on  a  milli- 
meter scale  which  is  fixed  on  the  back 
of  the  apparatus.  The  figures  shown 
in  table  1  for  this  apparatus  are  based 
on  an  average  of  three  de\'iations 
from  the  correct  scale  point,  for  each 
subject. 

THE   SUBJECTS   AND    CRITERIA 

We  used  as  subjects  Freshman  stu- 
dents who  were  taking  their  second 
semester  of  mechanical  drawing  at 
Lane  Technical  High  School,  in 
Chicago.  At  first  glance  it  might 
appear  that  any  indication  of  ability 
to  learn  mechanical  drawing  which 
we  might  obtain  on  Freshman  high 
school  subjects  would  be  worthless. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  After 
the  first  few  months  on  the  drawing 
board,  students  begin  to  separate  along 
a  wide  range  of  ability.  By  the  time 
they  have  reached  the  middle  of  the 
second  semester  they  are  in  an  ideal 
stage  for  study,  for  their  abilities  are 
at  this  time  widely  separated,  and  yet 
few  have  dropped  out. 

'  Unpublished. 


In  order  to  obtain  two  well  differen- 
tiated groups  on  the  basis  of  promise 
shown  in  mechanical  drawing,  five 
instructors  of  six  classes  of  such 
students  were  asked  to  select  their 
most  promising  and  least  promising 
students.  Instructors  were  asked  to 
make  their  judgments  on  promise  in 
mechanical  drawing  alone,  with  other 
factors  ruled  out  as  far  as  possible. 
Students  whose  lack  of  promise  in 
drawing  seemed  to  be  due  in  part  to 
chronic  absenteeism  were  not  con- 
sidered in  the  sampling.  Usually 
these  most  promising  and  least  promis- 
ing selections  together  amounted  to 
about  half  the  class.  With  this 
method  there  were  obtained  thirty- 
three  promising  and  thirty-four  un- 
promising cases. 

After  having  obtained  these  sup- 
posedly well-differentiated  groups  we 
wished  to  verify  the  selections.  That 
is,  we  had  two  groups,  one  of  which 
presumably  was  composed  of  students 
with  their  ability  not  only  to  grasp 
easily  their  elementary  drawing  work, 
but  also  to  climb  out  of  the  apprentice 
rank ;  the  other  group  presumably  was 
composed  of  students  with  little  or  no 
aptitude.  It  was  felt  reasonable  to 
assume  that  after  a  semester  and  a 
half  of  instruction,  those  with  aptitude 
for  drafting  ought  to  do  better  work 
on  an  achievement  test  than  those 
without  this  aptitude.  For  this  veri- 
fication procedure  the  Minnesota  Me- 
chanical Drawing-Test  A  was  used.^" 
This  test  requires  the  subject  to  make 
a  three-view  orthographic  projection 
of  a  cross  slide  shown  in  isometric 
form.  The  time  limit  was  one  hour. 
Although  a  highly  acceptable  objective 

'"  Unpublished. 


I'HE   PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,    VOL.    VI,    NO.   5 


364 


Stoy:  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


criterion  would  have  been  a  division 
of  these  orthographic  plates  into  good 
and  poor  groups,  a  task  requiring  so 
strict  a  division  would  have  been  an 
imposition  on  our  judges.  The  draw- 
ings were,  however,  placed  in  rank 
order  by  ten  judges,  consisting  of  four 
high  school  instructors  in  mechanical 
drawing  and  six  engineers.  The  cri- 
teria by  which  the  drawings  were 
judged  were:  Amount  completed, 
number  of  lines  protruding  beyond 
proper  limit,  number  of  lines  not 
joined,  number  of  lines  omitted,  ac- 
curacy of  angles,  uniformity  of  line 
widths,  agreement  of  line  widths  with 
widths  used  in  standard  practice, 
quality  of  lettering,  and  cleanliness. 
The  relative  importance  of  these  cri- 
teria was  left  to  the  judge.  The  ranks 
assigned  each  student  by  the  judges 
were  totalled,  and  these  totals  were  in 
turn  used  to  assign  a  new  rank  order. 
Rank  order  coefficients  (p)  yielded 
by  correlations  of  ranks  assigned  by 
each  judge  and  the  combined  ranks  of 
ten  judges  averaged  0.87,  the  lowest 
coefficient  being  0.71,  and  the  highest 
0.96. 

The  combined  ranks  of  ten  judges  on 
the  sixty-seven  cases  selected  by  in- 
structors showed  that  twenty-four  of 
the  thirty-three  selected  as  promising 
ranked  between  1  and  32,  using  1  to 
denote  the  highest  rank.  Twenty- 
five  of  the  thirty-four  unpromising 
cases  ranked  between  34  and  67. 
These  twenty-five  cases  which  were 
selected  as  unpromising  by  instructors, 
and  which  ranged  from  34  to  67  on  the 
criterion  test  will  be  called  hereafter 
the  unpromising  group.  The  promis- 
ing group  will  be  composed  of  twenty- 
five  cases,  selected  by  instructors  as 


promising,  and  which  ranked  1  to  35 
on  the  criterion  test.  We  feel  that 
the  selection  of  these  two  groups  of 
twenty-five  each,  by  a  double  criterion, 
justifies  the  assumption  that  we  have 
subjects  well-differentiated  in  aptitude 
for  mechanical  drawing. 

RESULTS 

Table  1  shows  for  the  Promising 
and  Unpromising  Groups,  on  each  test, 
the  numbers  of  cases,  means,  differ- 
ences of  means,  standard  deviations, 
probable  errors  of  means,  probable 
errors  of  differences,  and  ratios  of 
differences  of  means  to  probable 
errors  of  differences.  The  number  of 
cases  shown  opposite  certain  tests  is 
less  than  twenty-five.  The  cases  not 
shown  were  drop-outs.  Ordinarily  in 
test  work  a  ratio  of  difference  of 
means  to  probable  error  of  this  differ- 
ence amounting  to  3.0  or  better  is  con- 
sidered significant.  If  the  difference 
is  three  times  the  probable  error  of  the 
difference  we  may  say  that  the  chances 
are  46  to  1  that  in  a  similar  repeated 
experiment  the  average  score  for  the 
Promising  Group  will  again  be  in  the 
same  direction  with  reference  to  the 
average  score  of  the  Unpromising 
Group.  This  probability  should  be 
acceptable  in  a  preliminary  study. 

The  table  shows  that  eight  of  the 
tests  jdelded  probability  ratios  of  3.0 
or  better.  These  tests,  in  order  of 
value,  are  the  Thurstone-Jones  Sketch- 
ing Test,  MacQuarrie  Block,  Tracing, 
Pursuit  and  Location  Tests,  Brigham 
Test  6,  Parallelogram  Illusion,  and 
MacQuarrie  Copying  Test. 

We  feel  that  the  results  obtained 
after  evaluation  of  the  above  tests 
justify  the  inclusion  of  these  tests  in 


Stoy  :  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


365 


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366 


Stoy  :  Mechanical  Drawing  Aptitude 


a  more  refined  study,  preferably  car- 
ried on  in  a  commercial  drafting  room. 
In  addition  to  the  tests  just  mentioned, 
the  inclusion  of  the  Wiggly  Block  Test 
in  a  more  refined  study  may  be  justi- 
fied in  view  of  the  fact  that  previous 
work  at  the  General  Electric  Company 
indicated  selective  value  for  it. 

The  tests  found  to  show  significant 
group  differences  in  this  study  will  be 


included  with  tests  evaluated  in  other 
studies  to  form  a  battery  for  use  in  a 
project  in  which  a  random  sample  will 
be  used  instead  of  two  differentiated 
groups.  It  is  hoped  that  the  results 
of  such  a  study  will  prove  valuable 
enough  to  yield  a  multiple  regression 
equation  from  which  probable  success 
in  learning  drafting  may  be  predicted. 
{Manuscript  received  August,  4,  1927) 


Transfer  for  Factory  Production  Employees 

By  Franklin  J.  Meine,  Chicago 

Mr.  Meine  shows  why  transfers  of  factory  employees  become  nec- 
essary, and  describes  a  carefully  worked  out  administrative 
method  for  handling  them.  In  the  next  number  of  the  Journal 
he  writes  about  the  vroblems  of  promotion. 


TRANSFER  and  Promotion  are 
methods  of  adjusting  the  work- 
ing force  to  production  require- 
ments. Large  industrial  organization 
is  dynamic, — constantly  changing  in 
amount,  kind,  and  location  of  work 
done.  At  the  same  time  there  are 
continuous  changes  with  respect  to 
employees  in  their  jobs — in  interest,  in 
ability,  in  effectiveness.  Therefore, 
methods  must  be  provided  for  adjust- 
ing this  continuously  changing  organi- 
zation and  force  of  employees. 

Transfer  and  promotion  methods 
can  be  successfully  carried  out  only 
under  conditions  of  centralized  em- 
ployment work.  The  employment  de- 
partment acts  as  a  clearing  house,  acts 
with  the  disinterestedness  of  a  third 
party  and  provides  for  the  systematic 
development  of  transfer  and  promotion 
plans. 

Transferring  an  employee  means 
changing  an  employee  in  his  job  to 
another  job  of  approximately  the  same 
grade,  i.e.,  a  job  making  similar  de- 
mands upon  the  employee.  The  pro- 
cess of  grading  jobs  for  purposes  of 
transfer  and  promotion  will  be  ex- 
plained in  a  later  article  on  promotion. 

This  discussion  of  transfers  refers 


only  to  transfer  of  employees  in  the 
rank  and  file;  and  does  not  take  into 
consideration  problems  arising  in  con- 
nection with  the  transfer  of  executives. 
The  distinction  sometimes  made  be- 
tween "inter-departmental"  and  "in- 
side" transfers  will  be  considered  later 
in  connection  with  a  specific  example. 
Both  kinds  of  transfers  are  here  in- 
cluded. 

Most  printed  discussions  on  trans- 
fers deal  mainly  with  one  of  the  three 
following  points  of  view  on  the  trans- 
fer problem: 

a.  Cost  of  labor  turnover 

b.  Individual  human  point  of  view 

c.  Administrative  considerations 

This  discussion  brings  out  each  of 
these  three  points  of  view  in  con- 
nection with  different  parts  of  the 
problem.  Discussion  of  transfers  from 
only  one  point  of  view  gives  a  one- 
sided picture.  These  three  points  of 
view  lend  perspective ;  and  they  should 
be  kept  in  mind  in  trying  to  under- 
stand the  problems  of  transfer. 

SOME    TRANSFER    STATISTICS 

The  importance  of  the  transfer 
problem  may  be  judged  in  part  from 


367 


368 


^Ieine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


an  actual  statement  of  transfers  in  a 
large  factory's  organization.  These 
figures  also  give  a  quantitative  descrip- 

TABLE  1 
The  average  number  on  factory  payroll 


TEAR 

MALI 

FEMALE 

TOTAL 

Fourth 

Third  

1349 

1117 

966 

1078 

1149 
988 
889 
840 

2498 
2105 

Second 

1855 

First 

1918 

Employees  transferred 


TEAR 

MALE 

FE- 
MALE 

TOTAL 

PER 
CENT  OF 

NUM- 
BER ON 
PAY- 
ROLL 

Fourth 

Third 

Second 

First 

365 
236 
264 
213 

491 
369 
580 
207 

856 
605 

844 
420 

34 

28 
45 
22 

tion  of  the  problem  and  serve  as  a 
good  point  of  departure  for  the  dis- 
cussion. 

See  tables  1  and  2  for  transfers  in  a 
factory  for  four  years. 


REASONS   FOR   TRANSFER 

1.  Promotion 

Promotion  or  advancing  employees 
is  treated  separately,  under  Promotion. 
WTien  the  decision  has  been  made  to 
promote  an  employee  he  may  have  to 
be  transferred. 

3.  Adjustment  of  force 

These  transfer  figures  show  (as  do 
figures  from  other  organizations)  that 
transfer  functions  primarily  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  organization  rather 
than  the  needs  of  the  individual,  i.e., 
as  to  the  latter's  abihty  or  preference. 
Obviously  the  individual  is  also  served 
by  having  the  needs  of  the  organization 
taken  care  of  by  transfers,  i.e.,  by 
not  being  thrown  out  of  a  job,  or  by 
being  given  opportunities  in  other 
departments  or  jobs  which  may  better 
develop  his  abilities. 

Adjustment  of  the  force  should  be 
separated  into  (a)  no  work  in  depart- 
ment "from"  and  (6)  needed  in  other 
departments.     This    division    makes 


TABLE  2 
Reasons  for  transfers 


Advancing  employees 

Employees  preferred  other  work 
No  work  in  original  department 

Unadapted 

Needed  in  other  department 

Miscellaneous 

Training 


FOURTH  TEAR      THIRD  TEAR       SECOND  TEAR 


Num- 
ber 


203 
85 
61 
37 
86 
120 
264 


Per 
cent 


23.6 

9.9 

7.2 

4.5 

10.0 

14.0 

30.8 


Num- 
ber 


117 
42 
49 
45 

272 
80 


Per 
cent 


19.35 

6.95 

8.1 

7.4 

45.0 

13.2 


Num- 
ber 


130 
83 

191 

52 

233 

155 


Per 

cent 


15.4 
9.82 
22.6 
6.18 
27.6 
18.4 


FIRST  TEAR 


Num- 
ber 


159 
48 
27 
63 
69 
54 


Per 
cent 


37.9 
11.4 
6.42 
15.0 
16.21 
12.87 


(special  training  department 
established) 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


369 


possible  a  more  intelligent  interpreta- 
tion of  transfer  problems. 

The  needs  of  production  are  con- 
tinuously changing — the  amount,  kind 
and  place  of  work  change  over  night. 
To  meet  these  needs  employees  are 
transferred.  This  kind  of  transfer 
does  not  represent  termination  of  em- 
ployment, since,  although  an  employee 
may  be  transferred  to  new  work,  he 
brings  to  the  work  knowledge  of 
company  business  and  pohcy,  and 
rehab ility.  In  view  of  the  fact  that 
he  is  immediately  available  in  these 
changing  circumstances,  his  transfer 
helps  keep  up  production  and  makes 
unnecessary,  too,  the  cost  of  hiring  and 
"breaking  in"  an  entirely  new  man. 

These  transfers  are  mainly  adminis- 
trative matters,  for  the  employment 
and  payroll  departments. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  em- 
ployee they  keep  him  from  being 
thrown  out  of  a  job  and  frequently 
bring  him  into  contact  with  other  kinds 
of  work  for  which  he  is  more  fitted  and 
with  other  people  with  whom  he  may 
get  along  better.  The  transfer  serves 
to  furnish  him  with  the  accidental 
variation  which  may  mean  much  to 
further  his  progress.  Certainly  he 
becomes  more  versatile;  and  so  more 
valuable  to  the  company. 

3.  Unadaptability 

Employees  not  adapted  to  their 
work  account  for  about  10  to  15  per 
cent  of  transfers.  Unadaptability  is 
a  complex  of  causes  and  might  as  well 
be  discussed  elsewhere  as  here,  except 
that  it  must  be  considered  with  refer- 
ence to  transfer.  Unadaptability 
should  be  considered  from  two  points 
of  view:  (1)  the  work  (2)  the  worker. 


(1)  Unadaptability  to  work  may 
refer  to  an  employee's  unadaptability 
to 

(a)  The  work  itself. 

(6)  Physical  working  conditions. 

(c)  Social  working  conditions,  i.e., 
relations  with  foreman  or  other  em- 
ployees. 

(2)  This  "unadaptabihty"  may  be 
due  primarily  to  some  obvious  defect 
of  the  worker  in  physical,  mental  or 
trade  equipment.  Note  that  in  a 
great  many  cases  it  is  difficult  to 
separate  the  work  from  the  worker. 
Sometimes  it  is  more  clearly  one  than 
the  other.  The  two  should  be  con- 
sidered separately  if  possible,  so  that 
more  intelligent  action  can  be  taken: 
conditions  altered  or  employee  trans- 
ferred. 

UnadaptabiUty  may  arise  from  in- 
correct placement  to  begin  with  or 
from  changes  in  the  work  or  in  the 
employee.  This  distinction  should  be 
made  to  show  the  true  cause.  If  em- 
ployment has  made  a  bad  placement 
this  should  be  acknowledged;  and  this 
record  is  important  as  a  measure  of 
effectiveness  of  placement  by  employ- 
ment. Jobs  may  change  so  as  to 
require  increased  skill,  more  mental  or 
physical  effort  and  become  of  greater 
value  to  the  company.  So,  too,  the 
individual  changes — in  ability,  in  out- 
look, and  in  his  hking  for  his  work. 

Unadaptability  to  work  itself  makes 
the  transfer  similar  to  termination  of 
employment  and  to  a  certain  extent 
means  increased  cost  of  turnover. 
Transfer  practically  amounts  to  dis- 
charge, training  cost  is  largely  lost, 
and  the  employee  is  trained  for  another 
job  as  a  new  employee.  However,  the 
management   knowing   the   employee 


370 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


better  than  a  new  man  can  place  him 
more  intelHgently;  the  employee  is 
somewhat  adjusted  to  the  spirit  and 
atmosphere  of  the  company,  and  in 
some  cases  out  of  gratitude  for  being 
given  another  chance  takes  a  new  lease 
on  life  and  makes  a  special  effort  to 
make  good. 

When  the  unadaptability  arises 
mainly  from  the  individual's  malad- 
justment with  his  environment  (his 
physical  working  conditions  or  his 
foreman  or  other  employees)  the  trans- 
fer is  not  a  loss  if  similar  work  can  be 
found  with  different  working  condi- 
tions. 

To  the  individual,  unadaptability  is 
a  serious  matter.  It  means  constant 
worry.  He  is  unhappy  because  he  is 
not  enjoying  that  satisfaction  which 
comes  from  knowing  that  he  is  doing 
good  work.  He  does  not  fit  with  the 
other  employees  and  things  are  not 
"right."  He,  therefore,  welcomes 
transfer  to  a  job  where  he  can  be  in  a 
more  harmonious  relation. 

^.  Employee' s  preference 

After  a  man  has  been  on  a  job  for  a 
long  time  he  is  very  apt  to  change  his 
attitude  towards  it.  He  may  have 
seen  some  other  work  he  likes  better, 
he  may  think  he  is  better  fitted  for  a 
different  kind  of  work,  he  may  want  to 
work  near  some  employees  whom  he 
knows,  or  he  may  just  be  seeking 
variety. 

It  is  not  enough  for  employees  to 
be  transferred  merely  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  organization, — the  trans- 
fer must  meet  the  employee's  needs 
as  well.  Provision  for  transfer  makes 
a  fundamental  appeal  to  the  em- 
ployee— it  gives  him  a  certain  freedom 


of  choice  of  job  that  makes  him  inter- 
ested in  his  work  because  he  has  chosen 
it  himself  and  develops  a  certain 
satisfaction  with  himself  and  the  or- 
ganization which  results  in  that  "in- 
valuable consciousness  of  consent, 
without  which  the  highest  efficiency  is 
impossible."  Knowledge  that  an  em- 
ployee can  be  transferred  if  he  wants 
to,  greatly  reduces  the  number  who 
leave  without  notice  and  increases  the 
number  who  are  content  with  their 
jobs  because  they  know  they  can 
change  if  they  want  to. 

Employees  should  know  first  that 
they  have  the  privilege  of  requesting 
transfer.  Publicity  is  secured  by 
noting  this  fact  in  the  Employees' 
Handbook,  through  the  plant  paper, 
through  bulletin  boards,  through  repre- 
sentation in  a  Works  Council.  Oppor- 
tunities to  which  employees  may  be 
transferred  should  be  announced  so 
that  employees  may  know  of  them 
and  secure  further  information  con- 
cerning them.  Jobs  available  may  be 
posted  on  the  bulletin  boards  through- 
out the  plant. 

5.  Miscellaneous 

In  addition  some  firms  list  a  "mis- 
cellaneous" to  cover  such  cases  as  do 
not  seem  to  be  satisfactorily  covered 
by  the  preceding  classifications. 

ADMINISTRATION      OF      TRANSFER: 
METHODS 

1.  Routine 

The  procedure  of  transfer  usually  is 
for  the  production  department  to 
notify  the  Employment  Department 
that  (o)  it  needs  more  help,  or  that 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


371 


(6)  it  wants  to  reduce  its  number  of 
employees.  The  Employment  De- 
partment then  proceeds  to  negotiate 
the  transfer:  (a)  to  see  what  em- 
ployees can  be  transferred,  or  (b)  to 
see  what  departments  need  help  or 
would  be  willing  to  take  some  on. 
This  roughly  would  be  the  routine  for 
adjusting  the  force. 

"Unadaptability,"  when  given  as  a 
reason    for    desiring    transfer,    might 


stated  in  the  Employees'  Handbook. 
Articles  appear  in  the  plant  paper  on 
the  subject.  There  is  a  Works  Com- 
mittee sub-committee  on  Transfer  and 
Promotion.  Weekly  opportunities  to 
which  employees  can  be  transferred 
are  posted  on  bulletin  boards. 

(2)  When  the  foreman  needs  help 
he  sends  a  "Requisition  for  Help" 
(fig.  1)  to  Employment.  This  may  be 
filled  by  transfer  or  from  outside. 


REQUISITION  FOR  HELP 

Always  use  this  form  when  in  need  of  help  and  whenever  possible  notify  Employment 
Department  one  week  ahead. 


-19 


Employment  Dept. : 

Please  employ  for  Dept one. 

with  the  following  qualities 


.age. 


.to. 


Job  Name Symbol Job  Specification. 

Wages  to  start Chances  of  advancement 

Steady  or  temporary  work When  needed 

Signature Dept. . 


Fig.  1 


come  from  the  employee  as  a  grievance 
or  from  the  foreman  of  the  produc- 
ing department.  "Request  of  Em- 
ployee" would  come  from  the  employee 
direct,  or  relayed  through  the  foreman. 

2.  Examples 

a.  Company    A    has    the   following 
transfer  method: 

(1)  Opportunity     for     transfer     is 


The  Employment  Department  fills 
out  the  reverse  side  (fig.  2)  "New 
Employee  Slip" — sends  it  to  the  de- 
partment introducing  the  "transferee," 
and  thence  to  accounting  to  change 
payroll.  Usually  the  Employment 
man  telephones  the  foreman  to  whom 
he  is  sending  the  "transferee"  explain- 
ing the  transfer. 

Before    the    "transferee"    is   taken 


372  Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 

NEW  EMPLOYEE  SLIP 

This  slip  is  to  be  sent  to  the  Accounting  Department  for  record,  by  department  head,  as 
soon  as  new  employee  is  placed  at  work. 

M 

Address 

Date  of  Birth Married  or  Single 

Starting  Wage Check  No 

Is  to  begin  work  on in  Dept in  the  position 

referred  to  on  back 

Employment  Department 

Per 

Began  work 19 

Dept.  Head 

Div.  Supt 

New  Employee Transfer  from  Dept 

Employee  worked  in  Dept 19 

Fig.  2 

NOTICE  OF  TRANSFER 


M Dept 

is  to  be  transferred 

from  your  department  to  Dept 


Reason  for  transfer. 


EMPLOYMENT  DEPARTMENT 

Per. 

Fig.  3 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees  373 

from   his   original   department,    Em-  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  from  the 

ployment     Department     issues     an  second.     The  difference  between   (1) 

authorization  for  transfer  to  the  de-  and  (2)  wUl  vary  greatly  from  organi- 

partment  "from  which"  (fig.  3).  zation  to  organization. 

b.  Method  of  handling  transfers  in  The    Employment    department    is 
Company  B:  interested  in  having  a  record  of  trans- 
Company  B  distinguishes  between  f ers  of  the  second  kind  for  two  reasons : 
two   kinds   of   transfer:  (1)  Inter-de-  (1)  to  be  able  to  account  for  all  trans- 

EXECUTIVES'  NOTIFICATION 

To The  following  transfer  from  your  department's  payroll  has 

been  properly  recorded  by  the  Employment  Office. 

Date 
Permanent  Charge 

Name 

From  Position Dept Class  No 

To  Position Dept Class  No 

Date  effective To 

Remarks 

(To  be  sent  to  Department  Head  by  Emplojmaent  Office  when  transfer  is  written) 

Expense  Employment 

Signature Signature 


Fig.  4 


EMPLOYMENT  MEMO 
Blank  Tissue — Carbon  of  Above 


Fig.  5 

partmental,  i.e.,  when  the  departments  fers  and   (2)  to  authorize  change  in 

are  not  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  payroll  for  the  purpose  of  charging 

same    executive,    and    (2)     "Inside"  the  labor  cost  to  the  proper  depart- 

transfers,  or  transfers  from  one  depart-  ment. 

ment  to  another  when  one  executive  is  The  main  outUne  of  the  Transfer 

in  charge  of  both  departments.  routine  is  roughly  the  same  for  Com- 

The  first  kind,  inter-departmental,  pany  B  as  for  Company  A,  as  described 

is  the  transfer  usually  meant,  although  above. 


374 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


Figures  4,  5  and  6  show  how  the 
transfer  operates.  Figure  4  is  a  noti- 
fication to  the  department  executive 
"from  which"  the  transfer  is  made. 
An  Employment  Memo  is  made  of  this 
notice  (fig.  5)  on  blank  tissue  by- 
carbon  and  is  kept  in  Employment. 
An  authorization  is  then  sent  to  the 


a  notice  of  his  transfers  to  the  Em- 
ployment Department  so  that  all 
transfers  may  be  accounted  for  and 
proper  accounting  charges  made.  Fig- 
ure 7  is  the  original  sent  to  the  Em- 
ployment Department  notifying  them 
of  the  transfer  and  figure  8  is  the 
duplicate  kept  in  the  department. 


EMPLOYMENT  OFFICE  TRANSFER 
This  is  to  be  used  for  all  transfers  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  department  executives. 


Date 
Parmanent  Charge 


Name 

From  Position Dept Class  Xo . 

To  Position Dept Class  Xo. 

Date  effective To 

Remarks 


Verbal  consent  to  the  above  transfer  has  been  obtained  by  me  from  the  proper  executive 

in  both  departments  aflfected. 
Expense                                                                 Employment 
Signature Signature 


Fig.  6 


accounting  or  Payroll  Department 
(fig.  6)  from  the  Employment  Depart- 
ment to  make  the  proper  change  in 
payroll  costs.  Verbal  consent  to  the 
transfer  must  first  have  been  obtained 
by  the  Employment  executive  from 
the  proper  executives  in  both  depart- 
ments affected.  See  figures  4,  5, 
and  6. 

The  procedure  in  Company  B  for 
"Inside"  transfers  is  to  have  the 
executive  in  charge  of  the  departments 
make  whatever  transfers  he  thinks  the 
needs  of  the  market  demand  and  send 


3.  People  concerned 

The  following  parties  are  usually 
concerned  in  the  transfer:  (a)  Em- 
ployment department;  (b)  Production 
Department,  "from  u'hich"  employee 
is  transferred,  Foreman  or  Department 
Head;  (c)  Production  Department, 
"to  which"  employee  is  transferred, 
Foreman  or  Department  Head.  (The 
expressions  "from  which"  and  "to 
which"  will,  by  abbreviation,  serve  to 
indicate  these  two  situations) ;  (d) 
Employee  transferred;  (e)  Payroll  de- 
partment. 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


375 


Original 


EMPLOYEE'S  "INSIDE"  TRANSFER 
(To  be  sent  to  Employment  Office) 


This  form  is  to  be  used  only  for  "charge  transfers"  and  for  permanent  transfers  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  executive  signing  it.  All  other  transfers  must  be  arranged  with  and 
wiitten  by  an  Employment  Selector  or  the  Employment  Supervisor. 


Permanent 


Change 


Name. 


From  Position Dept. 

To  Position Dept. 

From To 


.Class  No 

Class  No 

.  (Give  dates  inclusive) 


Remarks. 


Dept.  Signature 

Expense  Signature Employment  Signature. 


Fig.  7 


Duplicate 


EMPLOYEE'S  "INSIDE"  TRANSFER 
(To  be  sent  to  Employment  Office) 


This  form  is  to  be  used  only  for  "charge  transfers"  and  for  permanent  transfers  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  executive  signing  it.  All  other  transfers  must  be  arranged  with  and 
written  by  an  Employment  Selector  or  the  Employment  Supervisor. 


Permanent 


Charge 


Name. 


From  Position Dept. 

To  Position Dept. 

From To 


.Class  No 

.Class  No 

.(Give  dates  inclusive) 


Remarks. 


Dept.  Signature 

Expense  Signature Employment  Signature. 

(Duplicate  to  be  held  in  Department) 


Fig.  8 


376 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


The  EmplojTnent  Department  acts 
as  initiator  or  clearing  house  and 
should  not  make  transfers  without 
knowledge  and  consent  of  production 
departments  "from  which"  and  "to 
which." 

The  production  department  "from 
which"  should  not  try  to  transfer  its 
employees  to  other  departments  with- 
out consent  and  understanding  of 
departments  "to  which"  or  without 


person  most  vitally  concerned,  and 
should  be  advised  of  all  the  attendant 
circumstances.  When  the  employee 
is  needed  by  another  department  he 
should  be  told  just  why  he  is  being 
transferred.  Otherwise  he  is  likely  to 
think  that  he  is  "sUpping"  on  the  job 
and  that  "they"  are  merely  trying  to 
"lose"  him, — unless  he  is  convinced 
of  the  necessity  and  desirability  of  the 
move. 


TABLE  3 

WAGE  RATE 

RATE 

(weekly)  in 

WHEN 

DEPARTMENT 

TH.AN8- 

CASE 

KE.\SON  FOR  TRANSFER 

FERRED 
TO 

COMMENT 

"From 

"To 

which" 

which" 

NEW 

job 

job 

JOB 

1 

Employee  request 

$24.00 

.S20.00 

S20.00 

Employee  takes  loss 

2 

Employee  request 

24.00 

28.00 

24.00 

Transfer  at  same  rate  usually) 
until  employee  qualifies 

3 

Employee  request  and  special 

24.00 

28.00 

26.00 

Not  usual — pay  increase  after 

ability 

28.00 

trial  more  frequent 

4 

Company  request  when  needed 
in  department  "to  which" 

24.00 

20.00 

24.00 

Employee  should  not  take  loss. 
Unemployment  fund  or 
charge  to  operating  cost  of 
department  "to  which" 

5 

Company  request  when  needed 
in  department  "to  which" 

24.00 

28.00 

24.00 

Same  rate  as  at  time  of  trans- 
fer.   See  case  3  above 

6 

Company    request    where    no 
work  in  department  "from 
which" 

24.00 

20.00 

24.00 

Charge  difference  to  operating 
cost  of  department  "to 
which" 

consent  and  understanding  of  the 
employment  department. 

Nor  should  the  department  "to 
which"  go  scouting  around  the  organi- 
zation looking  for  people  and  "grab- 
bing" them  without  the  consent  and 
understanding  of  the  other  department 
chiefs.  Surely  the  employee  should 
not  be  taken  bodily  from  the  depart- 
ment in  which  he  is  working  without 
any  record  at  all;  but  should  come 
through  regular  transfer  channels. 

The    employee    transferred    is    the 


When  the  employee  is  no  longer 
needed  for  production  reasons  he 
should  also  be  told,  although  m  this 
case  it  will  be  fairly  obvious  to  him 
particularly  if  it  is  matter  of  choice 
between  a  job  in  some  other  depart- 
ment and  no  job  at  all.  When  the 
employee  is  mainly  at  fault,  if  possible, 
he  should  be  led  to  say  so  himself  since 
he  will  recognize  this  and  he  will 
appreciate  the  opportunity  of  having 
his  say. 

In  any  case,  however,  it  should  be 


Meine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


377 


remembered  that  a  man's  job  is  his 
Ufe;  and  fear  of  loss  of  job  through 
any  possibility  of  gettmg  a  "bum  job" 
or  of  failing  in  another  job,  and  sus- 
picion of  management  for  the  reason 
of  the  change  are  so  strong  that  the 
employee  should  always  be  given  clear 
and  painstaking  explanations  just  why 
the  transfer  was  made. 

The  payroll  department  is  obviously 
concerned  in  the  transfer  to  see  that 
the  record  of  change  is  properly 
entered,  the  proper  department  is 
charged  with  the  cost,  the  payroll  is 
made  up  accurately  and  that  the  em- 
ployee gets  his  correct  pay. 

Jf..  Wages 

Some  times  the  question  of  wages  in 
transferring  an  employee  becomes  par- 
ticularly vexing,  depending  on  the 
specific  circumstances.  The  illustra- 
tive cases  in  table  3  are  suggested 
merely  to  give  the  general  idea. 

Cases  1,  2,  and  3  are  where  the 
employee  requests  transfer.  Cases  4,  5, 
and  6,  are  where  the  transfers  are  at 
the  initiative  of  the  Company.  The 
way  in  which  each  of  these  cases 
would  actually  be  handled  would 
probably  vary  in  different  companies. 

5.  Training 

In  a  great  many  cases  transfers  can 
not  be  satisfactorily  made  without 
instruction  in  the  job  to  which  the 
employee  is  transferred.  This  is  en- 
tirely a  matter  of  training  to  supple- 
ment the  transfer  work  of  the 
employment  department  and  should 
be  adequately  treated  in  a  discussion 
of  training. 


It  should  be  noted  that  "training"  is 
itself  not  a  reason  for  transfer.  Tram- 
ing  is  merely  the  means  by  which 
something  is  accomplished  to  meet  the 
need  from  some  other  source,  i.e., 
inadequacy  of  ability  of  worker,  em- 
ployees needed  in  other  department, 
etc. 

6.  Individual  considerations 

In  making  transfers  many  individual 
variations  and  human  idiosyncrasies 
must  be  taken  into  account.  These 
questions  will  suggest  some  situations 
not  uncommon  in  the  every  day  run 
of  transfers. 

a.  Would  you  transfer  a  new  em- 
ployee from  his  first  position,  on  his 
request,  if  the  department  had  re- 
ported that  his  work  and  attitude  were 
not  satisfactory? 

b.  Would  you  transfer  a  satisfactory 
employee  in  certain  work  if  he  decides 
that  he  would  like  to  try  some  other 
work  to  get  a  change? 

c.  Would  you  transfer  to  other 
work,  at  his  request,  an  employee  who 
feels  that  he  will  never  be  contented 
in  a  certain  department? 

d.  How  should  an  employee  be  ap- 
proached when  it  is  necessary  to  have 
him  work  on  other  than  his  regular 
work,  whether  in  his  own  or  another 
department? 

e.  Should  the  employee  be  informed 
how  long  he  will  be  on  the  new  work 
and  what  his  wages  will  be? 

/.  ^^Tlen  an  employee  asks  to  have 
his  work  changed  for  the  sake  of  his 
health  what  should  be  the  procedure? 

g.  Is  it  advisable  ever  to  change 
employees  to  jobs  they  don't  like, 
merely  for  discipline? 


378 


}^Ieine  :  Transfer  for  Factory  Employees 


LIMITATIONS 

A  system  of  transfers  senTS  to  meet 
the  djTiamic  needs  of  the  organization 
and  the  individual ;  and  in  this  service 
it  can  be  abused  just  as  any  other  good 
and  useful  method.  Shifting  workers 
too  frequently,  unnecessarily  or  under 
bad  conditions  is  apt  to  make  shift- 
less workers.  "\Mien  the  transfer  is  a 
substitute  for  "fire"  it  undermines  the 
morale  of  the  organization  and  so 
defeats  the  \eTy  purpose  for  which  the 
transfer  plan  was  established. 

This  very  important  point  was 
brought  out  by  one  production  super- 
intendent who  commented  on  trans- 
fers thus: 

"The  irritation  is  not  about  the 
employee  just  transferred:  it  is  the 
accumulation  of  all  the  previous  ex- 


perience (bad)  that  the  company  has 
had  vN^th  transferred  employees. 

"And  no  wonder!  I  tell  the  Em- 
plo>Tnent  Department  I  have  three 
men  to  get  rid  of.  'Why?'  they  ask. 
I  say,  'No  good.'  They  reply:  'All 
right,  we'll  see  if  we  can  place  them.' 
Their  effort  is  to  be  commended;  but 
in  all  cases  they  should  remember  that 
one  sorting  has  taken  place  and  those 
that  are  left  will  average  a  large 
number  of  undesirables." 

The  production  man's  point  of 
xiew,  even  though  it  deals  with  only 
one  aspect  of  the  whole  problem,  should 
always  be  kept  in  mind  as  a  very 
important  consideration  in  the  opera- 
tion of  any  transfer  plan. 

{Manuscript  received  November  22,  1926.) 


The  Autumn  Conference  of  the  Personnel 
Research  Federation 


THE  annual  autumn  conference 
of  the  Personnel  Research  Fed- 
eration, held  at  the  Hotel  Penn- 
sylvania, New  York,  Thursday  and 
Friday,  November  17  and  1$,  1927, 
was    given    over    to    four    topics, — 

Research  in  Susceptibility  to  Acci- 
dents and  Accident  Reduction 

Study  and  Measurement  of  Leader- 
ship 

The  Personal  Interview:  Its  Tech- 
nique and  Reliability  in  Fact- 
Finding 

Discovery  and  Measurement  of 
Mechanical  Abilities 

The  program  arrangement  was  an 
innovation  for  the  Personnel  Research 
Federation,  At  the  two  morning  ses- 
sions, each  of  these  topics  was  repre- 
sented by  one  or  more  formal  papers. 
On  the  two  afternoons,  four  round- 
tables  were  formed  for  the  informal 
discussion  of  each  of  these  topics  and 
for  planning  research.  This  arrange- 
'ment  proved  very  satisfactory  and 
promises  to  bring  about  more  tangible 
results  than  programs  consisting  en- 
tirely of  the  presentation  of  papers. 

The  meeting  opened  on  Thursday 
morning  with  an  address  by  the 
President  of  the  Personnel  Research 
Federation,  Mr,  Alfred  D,  Flinn,  on 
the  purposes  of  the  Federation  and 
the  plan  of  the  conference.  Mr,  H,  H, 
Carey  gave  an  imposing  summary  of 


the  research  activities  of  the  corporate 
members  of  the  Federation,  (Ac- 
counts of  these  activities  will  be  printed 
in  the  next  few  numbers  of  the  Per- 
sonnel JouHNAL.)  Individual  mem- 
bers of  the  Federation  also  gave  in- 
formal reports  of  research  work  being 
undertaken. 

MECHANICAL   ABILITY 

Dr,  M.  S,  Viteles  cleared  the  field 
for  the  discussion  of  the  measurement 
of  mechanical  ability  by  defining  the 
meaning  of  mechanical  abilities  or 
ability,  and  by  pointing  out  the  neces- 
sity for  cooperative  research  on  tests 
and  the  establishment  of  an  exact 
criterion. 

The  General  Electric  Company  for 
several  years  has  been  experimenting 
with  tests  for  office  and  factory  jobs. 
The  experience  of  this  company  with 
tests  of  mechanical  abilities  was  out- 
lined by  Mr,  C,  G,  Howe.  He  dis- 
cussed at  length  the  O'Connor  Block 
Assembly  Test,  a  piece  of  wood  jig- 
sawed  into  nine  pieces,  described  by 
F.  L.  Keane  and  Johnson  O'Connor 
in  the  Personnel  Journal  for  June, 
1927.  Men  who  succeed  in  mechani- 
cal work  are  apt  to  score  high  in  this 
test,  i.e.,  take  little  time  to  assemble 
the  pieces  to  form  the  block,  while 
those  who  fail  in  mechanical  work  tend 
to  score  low. 

The  experience  of  the  company  in 


379 


380 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


devising  an  alternative  to  this  test  for 
those  who  have  already  taken  it,  is 
enlightening.  They  tried  out  a  spring 
divider  assembly  test  and  the  assembly 
of  a  regular  tetrahedron,  sawed  in  a 
particular  way.  Both  of  these  tested 
special  knowledge  as  well  as  aptitude, 
and  thus  proved  useless  in  detecting 
mechanical  aptitude  among  appli- 
cants. An  observation  test  consisting 
of  a  drawer  filled  with  miscellaneous 
objects  required  too  much  time  for 
administering,  and  was  too  cumber- 
some. A  picture  completion  board — 
a  mounted  picture  from  which  little 
squares  were  sawed  out  and  gathered 
together  for  replacement  in  their 
proper  position  by  the  apphcant — cor- 
related positively  with  the  Block  test 
and  seemed  to  measure  natural  me- 
chanical aptitude. 

Mr.  Howe  pointed  out  that  skilled 
workmen  should  possess  both  natural 
ability  and  special  knowledge,  but  that 
these  should  not  be  measured  by  the 
same  test. 

At  the  Thursday  afternoon  confer- 
ence Mr.  Dewey  Anderson  spoke  on 
the  Minnesota  experiments  on  the 
measurement  of  mechanical  ability. 
He  told  of  the  difficulties  faced  in  de- 
termining just  what  mechanical  abil- 
ity is  composed  of,  and  how  it  mani- 
fests itself  in  measurable  form  that  can 
be  used  as  a  criterion  for  test  construc- 
tion. The  criterion  finally  arrived  at 
was  a  summation  of  2000  measure- 
ments of  products  of  achievement  in 
school.  It  had  a  reUability  of  0.85. 
A  number  of  tests  were  correlated  with 
this  criterion,  individually  and  in  com- 
bination. The  best  combination  gave 
a  correlation  of  0.72.  He  emphasized 
the  need  in  further  research  of  getting 


a  reliable  criterion  and  of  using  longer 
tests. 

Mr.  Walter  A.  Berry,  in  speaking  of 
the  test  experiments  which  have  been 
under  way  for  several  years  at  the 
Scovill  Manufacturing  Company, 
pointed  out  that  they  were  not  aiming 
to  measure  mechanical  abilit}',  but 
success  on  the  job  as  machinist  ap- 
prentice or  tool  maker  apprentice.  He 
and  Miss  Millicent  Pond  gave  an  ac- 
count of  the  experiment  in  obtaining 
a  group  of  tests  that  would  measure 
success  in  a  course  for  tool  making 
apprentices.  For  four  years  all  in- 
coming apprentices  have  been  given 
seven  tests  selected  from  Army  Alpha 
and  Beta,  and  personal  data  have  been 
recorded  as  well.  The  training  room 
foreman  has  rated  these  boys  as  satis- 
factory or  unsatisfactory.  Each  cate- 
gory is  further  subdivided.  In  the 
non-verbal  tests,  it  was  found  that  the 
higher  the  score  the  higher  was  the 
proportion  of  successes;  in  the  verbal 
tests  the  highest  proportion  of  suc- 
cesses was  in  the  middle  of  the  range. 
A  combined  score  was  developed  which 
gave  satisfactory  results  in  differen- 
tiating good  from  poor  apprentices. 

Mr.  L.  R.  Frazier  spoke  brieflj'-  of 
the  success  he  had  met  in  the  Denni- 
son  Manufacturing  Company  in  pre- 
dicting mechanical  ability  from  per-' 
formance  in  the  O'Connor  Block  Test. 
Mr.  E.  G.  Stoy  described  his  study  of 
mechanical  drawing  aptitude  reported 
elsewhere  in  this  issue  and  in  the 
Persontstel  Journal  for  August, 
1927.  Dr.  H.  D.  ICitson  and  Dr. 
W.  V.  Bingham  summed  up  the  ses- 
sion and  commented  on  the  results 
which  were  presented. 

At  the  Friday  afternoon  conference, 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation        381 


Dr.  Bingham  opened  the  discussion 
by  telHng  of  the  ingenious  methods 
devised  by  Dr.  Prak  for  group  exami- 
nation of  appHcants  for  work  at  the 
Phihps  Lamp  Works  at  Eindhoven, 
Holland.  Employees  are  being  tested 
at  the  rate  of  five  hundred  a  month. 
The  test  apparatus  includes  automatic 
scoring  devices  wherever  this  is  feasi- 
ble. Rehabilities  and  validities  have 
been  carefully  worked  out. 

Mr.  Oliver  C.  Short  told  of  his  ex- 
periences with  various  tests  in  con- 
nection with  the  work  of  the  Maryland 
State  EmplojTnent  Commission.  Dr. 
Arthur  F.  Payne  stressed  the  impor- 
tance of  using  a  battery  of  tests  in- 
stead of  one  in  measuring  mechanical 
abihties,  and  using  tests  which  repro- 
duce as  far  as  possible  the  conditions 
in  real  life  where  mechanical  abihties 
are  brought  into  play. 

The  following  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  formulate  a  program  for 
research  on  the  Measurement  of  Me- 
chanical Abihties:  L.  Dewey  Ander- 
son (Chairman),  Bureau  of  Educational 
Experiments,  Walter  A.  Berry,  Sco- 
vill  Manufacturing  Company,  L.  J. 
O'Rourke,  U.  S.  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission, and  M.  S.  Viteles,  University 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  recommenda- 
tions made  by  this  committee  and 
adopted  by  the  group  are  given  below. 

In  making  the  following  recommenda- 
tions the  committee  wishes  to  emphasize 
certain  preliminary  considerations  to  be 
carried  in  mind  in  planning  cooperative 
research  in  the  measurement  of  mechanical 
abilities. 

1.  The  committee  wishes  to  go  on  record 
as  condemning  (a)  the  practice  of  using 
short  understandardized  tests  in  complex 
situations  where  no  valid  check  of  the  value 
of  the  tests  can  be  made,  and  (6)  of  con- 


structing new  tests  when  the  old  measures 
which  are  our  heritage  of  thought  on  this 
problem  for  the  past  twenty-five  years  have 
not  been  given  a  thorough  try-out  in  a  work- 
able situation. 

2.  There  is  an  outstanding  need  for 
cooperative  research  including  industrial 
establishments  as  well  as  schools.  Such 
cooperation  involves  a  very  exact  formula- 
tion of  the  research  project  and  ultimately 
a  detailed  distribution  of  responsibility 
among  cooperating  agencies.  The  com- 
mittee, therefore,  feels  justified  in  making 
rather  specific  recommendations  for  a  re- 
search project  in  the  discovery  and  measure- 
ment of  mechanical  abilities. 

The  Committee  recommends  that  co- 
operative research  in  mechanical  abilities 
be  organized  along  the  following  lines: 

Step  I.  A  survey  of  the  literature  on  tests 
of  motor  and  mechanical  ability  under 
topical  arrangement  to  give  complete  data 
on  each  investigation  on: 

1.  Test  samples 

2.  Methods  of  administration 

3.  Methods  of  scoring 

4.  Numbers  and  characteristics  of  sub- 

jects 

5.  Reliability 

6.  Type  of  criteria  used  in  validation 

7.  Conclusions 

The  completion  of  this  survey  is  a  necessary 
preliminary  to  the  testing  research  outlined 
below. 

Step  II.  Selection  of  a  half  dozen  or 
more  job  units,  more  or  less  independent, 
which  in  turn  may  include  one  or  more 
specific  operations  such  as  filing,  riveting, 
bending,  etc.,  in  such  manner  that  the  job 
units  will  range  in  difficulty  or  complexity 
from  one  involving  only  a  single,  simple 
mechanical  operation  to  one  more  complex 
involving  many  such  operations. 

Step  III.  Determination  of  methods  of 
measuring  relative  efficiency  in  the  perform- 
ance of  each  of  these  operations,  according 
to  prescribed  objective  and  standardized 
procedure.  These  relative  efficiency  meas- 
ures are  intended  to  be  used  as  criteria 
with  which  to  measure  the  validity  of  tests 
which  are  to  be  selected  for  try-out. 

Step  IV.    Selection  of  a  series  of  tests 


382 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


from  the  results  of  the  survey  made  in  Step 
I,  which  are  kno\\-n  to  have  high  reliability 
and  which  appear  to  measure  the  abilities 
required  in  performance  of  the  operations 
selected  in  Step  II.  This  selection  of  tests 
shall  also  be  made  on  the  basis  of  low  cor- 
relations among  the  tests  in  order  to  insure 
the  measuring  of  as  many  independent  fac- 
tors as  possible. 

Step  V.  Selection  of  supplementary 
measures,  such  as  age,  education,  previous 
employment,  reaction  time,  metabolism, 
ossification,  etc.,  which  when  allied  to  the 
test  measures  may  render  a  battery  of 
measures  which  will  give  a  more  adequate 
index  of  ability  than  the  tests  would  by 
themselves. 

Step  VI.  Plans  for  the  carrying  out  of 
this  program  in  industries  and  training  or- 
ganizations which  are  willing  to  cooperate 
in  the  program  as  finally  determined.  This 
will  include  the  development  of  standard 
procedures  within  each  of  the  cooperative 
concerns  in  order  to  make  certain  that  the 
results  of  the  work  can  be  combined  and 
interpreted  as  a  whole. 

LEADERSHIP 

Dr.  F.  H.  Allport  in  his  paper  read 
before  the  Thursday  morning  session 
forsook  the  consideratioD  of  leader- 
ship in  terms  of  a  purpose  to  be 
achieved — either  the  common  weKare 
of  workers  and  employers  or  good 
business  management — and  took  as 
the  object  of  his  study  the  facts  which 
actually  exist  in  situations  involving 
leadership.  His  aim  was  the  analysis 
of  the  human  behavior  lying  within 
these  situations,  rather  than  the 
measurement  of  progress  made  toward 
any  chosen  ideal. 

Leadership  cannot  be  studied  as  a 
single  quaUty  or  trait  in  the  make-up 
of  a  leader.  It  must  be  described  as  a 
complex  set  of  responses  of  individuals 
toward  one  another  in  circumstances 
where  one  person  is  directing  or  domi- 
nating the  common  action. 


It  will  often  be  found  that  a  trait 
making  for  leadership  in  one  relation- 
ship is  not  capable  of  producing  leader- 
ship in  another,  because  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  organization  involved.  In 
this  case  we  do  not  say  that  no  per- 
manent trait  is  involved  (because 
leadership  is  present  at  one  time  and 
absent  at  another) ;  we  may  infer  that 
wherever  the  environment  affords  an 
opportunitj'  the  characteristic  drive 
upon  which  leadership  is  based  will 
exhibit  itseK. 

Dr.  Allport  and  his  brother  Dr.  G. 
W.  Allport  are  at  work  on  a  test- 
scale  to  measure  the  traits  of  ascend- 
ancy and  submission  which  are  apt  to 
emerge  consistently  in  typical  situa- 
tions in  daily  hfe,  unless  inhibited  by 
special  circumstances.  Other  charac- 
teristics important  for  leadership  are 
sociabiHty  traits,  ability  to  interpret 
facial  expressions  and  attitudes,  and 
general  attractiveness  to  others.  These 
should  be  studied  in  the  -way  they  are 
integrated  in  the  total  personahty. 
The  study  of  the  personahty  is  largely 
the  study  of  these  integrated  factors. 
In  studying  the  personahty  of  leaders 
we  should  try  to  discover  the  biograph- 
ical facts  back  of  their  fundamental 
drives  and  traits,  then  formulate  a 
method  of  measuring  these  traits,  and 
finally  devise  a  technique  for  describ- 
ing the  way  in  which  these  traits  work 
together. 

The  personality  of  the  industrial 
leader  must  be  observed  both  within 
and  without  the  plant.  Instead  of 
considering  the  industrial  establish- 
ment as  something  fixed  and  immut- 
able, into  which  human  personahty 
must  be  fitted,  we  should  take  at  the 
start  the  human  personahties  involved 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


383 


and  see  how  and  whether  the  mdustrial 
scheme  can  be  worked  out  through  the 
coordination  of  common  segments  in 
this  mold  of  personality.  Industrial 
leadership  is  most  profitably  ap- 
proached in  this  manner,  i.e.,  through 
studying  the  total  personality  of  the 
leader  and  from  that  to  the  discovery 
of  his  personality  within  the  plant  in 
its  relationship  to  other  personalities 
within  the  plant.  This  is  a  nearer 
approximation  to  the  real  industrial 
situation  and  looks  toward  a  more 
ideal  industrial  adjustment. 

On  Friday  morning  Dr.  Wilham  E. 
Mosher  distinguished  two  types  of 
leadership  that  appear  in  a  democracy, 
the  leadership  of  control  or  manipula- 
tion, and  the  leadership  of  merit.  The 
former  looks  upon  voters  as  pawns  on 
the  chess  board  of  pohtics,  the  latter 
maintains  its  position  by  facing  prob- 
lems and  proposing  solutions  that  will 
appear  to  an  inteUigent  citizenry.  One 
aims  at  the  advancement  of  personal 
or  party  interest,  while  the  other  aims 
at  pubhc  well-being. 

The  different  manifestations  of  the 
quahties  common  to  both  types  of 
leadership  were  dealt  with  in  some 
detail.  These  quahties  are :  (a)  socia- 
bility, (6)  capacity  for  organizing 
groups,  (c)  responsiveness  to  current 
events,  influences,  ideas,  and  possibili- 
ties, (d)  flexibility  and  ingenuity  in 
devising  compromises  and  policies,  (e) 
art  of  forceful  and  popular  expression- 
persuasiveness,  (/)  willingness  to  work, 
(g)  capacity  to  get  things  done,  (h) 
self-confidence,  courage,  and  (i)  person- 
ality. 

The  quahties  characteristic  of  the 
second  or  democratic  type  of  leader- 
ship are:   (a)   intellectual  and  moral 


integrity,  and  (b)  independence  of 
party. 

This  was  not  intended  to  be  an  ex- 
haustive list  but  gives  only  essential 
characteristics.  It  follows  in  the  main 
the  analysis  of  personnel  qualities 
which  is  found  in  Charles  E.  Merriam's 
book,  'Tour  A.merican  Party  Leaders." 

At  the  afternoon  round-tables  on 
Thursday  and  Friday,  Dr.  Allport 
described  his  ascendance-submission 
test.  It  consists  of  a  number  of  situa- 
tions in  daily  life  which  the  college 
student  is  hkely  to  meet,  and  a  multiple 
choice  arrangement  of  responses  to  the 
situation  from  which  the  student  is  to 
make  his  choice  in  accordance  with 
his  own  way  of  meeting  the  situation. 
There  is  one  form  for  men  and  another 
for  women.  There  is  a  shght  tendency 
toward  the  ascendant  side,  i.e.,  to- 
ward choosing  a  response  which  de- 
notes an  ascendance  over  others  rather 
than  submission.  The  distribution  of 
400  cases  was  fairly  normal  and  the 
rehability  was  0.73.  Dr.  Allport  con- 
cluded from  this  that  we  probably 
have  a  trait  here  which  will  show  itself 
in  varying  degrees  according  to  cir- 
cumstances, and  which  is  utihzable  in 
studies  of  leadership.  He  also  stressed 
the  importance  of  distinguishing  be- 
tween personal  leadership  and  leader- 
ship by  virtue  of  office. 

Mr.  N.  L.  Hoopingamer  empha- 
sized not  onl}^  the  necessity  for  the 
discovery  of  leadership  possibilities, 
but  their  development  to  the  greatest 
capacity  in  a  latent  leader.  He  de- 
nied this  presence  of  a  general  leader- 
ship abihty,  calling  attention  to  the 
fact  that  a  person  may  be  a  leader  in 
business  and  a  follower  socially,  in 
this  respect  agreeing  imphcitly  with 


384 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


Dr.  AUport's  statement  in  the  morning 
session.  In  studying  and  measuring 
the  quahties  essential  to  a  job,  Mr. 
Hoopingamer  recommended  the  fol- 
lowing classification : 

Physique 

Mental  alertness 

Skill 

Natural  aptitude 

Temperament 

The  job  and  the  man  should  be 
matched  according  to  these  five  quali- 
ties. 

Dr.  C.  R.  Mann  called  attention  to 
a  danger  of  pairing  job-requirements 
with  personal  abilities.  The  abilities 
must  be  described  and  paired  wdth  a 
description  of  what  the  job  actually 
requires.  In  other  words,  the  person- 
nel worker  must  be  specific  and  de- 
scriptive, rather  than  resting  satisfied 
with  mere  terms. 

Dr.  Iva  L.  Peters  described  an  ex- 
periment in  which  ratings  on  leadership 
of  coUege  girls  were  compared  with 
their  leadership  success  in  life. 

Mr.  H.  L.  Davis  spoke  of  the  diffi- 
culties in  industry  in  handling  the 
potential  leader  during  the  period  when 
he  is  acquiring  information  and  ex- 
perience. He  must  be  encouraged  by 
being  shown  the  future  he  has  with 
the  firm.  Men  who  make  leaders 
are  discovered  through  their  college 
career,  through  their  athletic  team 
record,  by  whether  they  have  been 
elected  to  class  office,  whether  they 
have  been  officers  in  one  of  the  engi- 
neering societies,  or  whether  they  have 
shown  in  any  way  the  drive-through 
spirit. 

Miss  Mary  Follett  believed  that  the 
conception  of  the  leader  as  a  man  of 
compelling  personahty  is  losing  ground 


and  that  a  leader  who  is  able  to  solve 
problems  is  taking  his  place.  The 
leader's  duty  is  not  so  much  to  put 
over  his  ideas  as  to  draw  out  the  ideas 
of  others,  and  unite  them  so  that  they 
will  be  most  effective.  He  must  also 
relate  them  to  the  future,  make  them 
lead  to  a  future  productive  situation. 

Mr.  T.  L.  Stokes  brought  out  the 
point  that  knowledge  is  not  essential 
to  leadership,  that  the  industrial  execu- 
tive can  draw  upon  brains  for  his  facts, 
and  use  his  personality  to  put  them 
into  effect. 

Others  w'ho  entered  into  the  dis- 
cussion were  Mr.  Fred  Telford,  Mr. 
Ordway  Tead,  Dr.  David  R.  Craig, 
and  Mr.  H.  H.  Tukey. 

A  subcommittee  on  research  proj- 
ects in  leadership  was  appointed,  with 
the  following  membership:  D.  R. 
Craig,  {Chairman),  University  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Arthur  H.  Sutherland,  New 
York  City,  C.  R.  Mann,  American 
Council  on  Education,  and  Owen  E. 
Pence,  National  Council  of  Y.  M.  C. 
A's.  of  the  United  States. 

ACCIDENT  REDUCTION 

On  Thursday  morning  Dr.  C.  S. 
Slocombe,  of  the  staff  of  the  Personnel 
Research  Federation,  outlined  methods 
of  accident  research  along  fines  which 
it  seems  advisable  to  develop  systemat- 
ically in  the  future.  He  judged  that 
individual  differences  in  liabihty  to 
accidents  was  the  feature  which  might 
be  particularly  stressed. 

Research  work  should  include  (a) 
the  relations  between  ability  of  newly 
hired  employees  as  shown  in  medical 
and  physical  examination,  mental 
tests  and  performance  tests,  and  the 
number  of  accidents  incurred  during 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


385 


the  period  succeeding  selection;  and 
(6)  the  relationship  between  the  re- 
sults of  diagnostic  examinations  of 
experienced  employees  and  the  records 
of  their  accidents.  Factors  that  may 
be  related  to  accidents  include  output, 
speed,  delinquincies,  length  of  experi- 
ence, etc. 

More  general  considerations  pos- 
sibly affecting  accidents  might  be  clas- 
sified as  physical  conditions  of  work, 
such  as  atmosphere,  illumination,  pos- 
ture, machinerj^,  and  tools;  and  per- 
sonal conditions  of  work  such  as  hours, 
fatigue,  monotony,  mental  strain,  ade- 
quacy of  supervision,  and  personal 
relations.  He  stated  that  individuals 
vary  in  the  extent  to  which  they  are 
affected  by  one  or  any  number  of  these 
conditions.  He  has  already  made  some 
preliminary  studies  (published  in  the 
Personnel  Journal  for  December), 
and  intends  continuing  as  much  of  the 
above  research  work  as  possible  during 
the  next  year. 

Dr.  Walter  N.  Polakov,  speaking  on 
the  influence  of  illumination  on  acci- 
dent rate,  gave  one  instance  after 
another  where  modernization  of  illu- 
mination brought  decreases  in  acci- 
dents and  increases  in  production. 

The  intensity  of  illumination  can- 
not be  considered  apart  from  the  kind 
of  hght.  All  artificial  illumination  has 
a  dominant  wave-length  or  group  of 
wave-lengths.  Unfortunately  they  do 
not  radiate  exclusively  or  dominantly 
the  wave-lengths  of  the  spectrum 
which  have  been  found  to  give  maxi- 
mum visual  acuity.  Fine  detail  work 
does  not  demand  brilliant  illumina- 
tion,— a  soft  white  light  of  moderate 
intensity  proves  far  more  satisfactory 
and  prevents  eye  fatigue.     An  arti- 


ficial Hght  of  spectral  value  approxi- 
mating sunlight  will  reduce  accidents, 
increase  production,  reduce  spoilage, 
and  prevent  unnecessary  eye-strain. 
The  "Sunlike"  apparatus  is  the  closest 
approximation  to  the  ideal  artificial 
illuminating  unit. 

Dr.  C.  P.  Segard  of  the  Third 
Avenue  Railway  System  of  New  York, 
spoke  on  accident  prevention  in  rela- 
tion to  street  railways.  The  biggest 
factor  in  the  causation  of  accidents. 
Dr.  Segard  said,  was  the  make-up  of 
the  individual,  his  emotional  person- 
ality, liis  customary  or  temporary 
frame  of  mind,  his  mental  background. 
In  approaching  the  problem  of  acci- 
dent reduction  the  street  railways  have 
first  of  all  installed  safe  and  fool-proof 
equipment.  After  the  usual  physical 
tests,  the  employee  is  carefully  trained 
over  a  period  of  two  or  three  weeks. 
This  is  in  contrast  to  the  situation  with 
the  auto  driver  (who  is  involved  in 
half  the  street  railway  accidents)  who 
considers  himseK  competent  to  drive  a 
car  after  a  few  hours  of  instruction. 
After  the  course  of  training,  proneness 
to  accident  is  a  matter  of  individual 
differences.  Accidents  are  more  fre- 
quent among  men  of  twenty-five  or 
less  than  among  older  men.  In  general, 
the  reasons  for  accidents  are  at  least 
as  likely  to  be  found  among  the 
general  pubhc  as  among  street  car 
drivers.  One  method  of  bettering  the 
situation  is  to  educate  the  general 
public  in  matters  of  courtesy  and 
safety. 

At  the  Friday  afternoon  round-table, 
Dr.  Thomas  T.  Read,  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Mining  and  Metallurgical 
Engineers,  talked  on  accident  preven- 
tion  work  in   mines.    The   scope    of 


386 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


the  mining  industry  is  very  great  and 
there  are,  as  one  might  expect,  many 
fatal  accidents.  Dr.  Read  discussed 
accidents  caused  by  the  roof  falUng 
down  or  by  coal  falUng  on  the  miner. 
These  two  problems  were  attacked  in 
West  Virginia  mines.  Since  results 
were  required  within  six  months  the 
work  was  necessarily  of  a  more  or  less 
summary  character.  Questionnaires 
were  made  out  and  the  data  collected 
directly  from  the  mines.  The  men 
sent  out  to  obtain  information  were 
instructed  to  so  conduct  themselves 
in  their  visits  to  the  mines  that  they 
inspired  a  feeling  of  good  will.  Point- 
ing out  the  obvious  mistakes  of  others 
is  very  bad  psychology,  and  the  men 
who  were  sent  out  were  under  strict 
orders  not  to  assume  an  attitude 
of  superiority  over  the  superintend- 
ents of  the  mines.  As  a  result  of  this 
work,  accidents  were  reduced  one 
half. 

Dr.  Read  pointed  out  the  fact  that 
results  must  be  shown  and  a  definite 
saving  in  money  effected  in  the  be- 
ginning in  order  to  arouse  the  interest 
and  confidence  of  the  sponsors.  They 
are  not  willing  to  allot  a  long  time  to 
the  project  unless  they  can  see  results 
at  once. 

After  Dr.  Read's  talk,  the  chairman 
brought  up  the  question  of  the  re- 
peater. Fear  was  suggested  as  the 
chief  cause  of  the  repeater's  liability 
to  accidents,  and  close  connection  be- 
tween fear  and  nervousness  was  cited. 
The  chairman  stated  that  accidents  of 
a  repeater  were  of  the  same  type.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  there  was 
some  consistent  cause  for  his  accidents. 

Mr.  Drew  talked  on  the  liability  to 
accident  of  the  truck  drivers  of  R.  H. 


Macy  and  Company.  They  have 
two  types  of  accidents :  trucks  backing 
into  cars  behind,  and  trucks  running 
into  cars  in  front.  Three  steps  were 
being  taken  to  better  conditions:  se- 
lection, training,  and  follow-up.  The 
men  chosen  to  conduct  the  training 
have  been  in  the  service  a  long  time 
and  have  had  no  accidents  or  only 
very  slight  ones.  Drivers  who  do  not 
have  accidents  when  inspectors  are 
with  them  were  found  to  have  them 
when  inspectors  are  not  with  them. 
Consequently,  they  ride  with  drivers 
and  check  up  on  their  operation  very 
frequently.  A  road  testing  car  is  to 
be  driven  with  the  instructor  as  soon 
as  a  slack  season  in  business  comes. 
This  car  is  to  be  run  with  the  clutch  in 
and  out  and  at  a  speed  so  that  the 
instructor  can  walk  along  beside  it 
and  find  out  the  specific  reasons  for 
the  driver's  accidents  and  what  train- 
ing he  should  have.  The  peak  hours 
for  accidents  are  10:00-12:00  a.m. 
and  4:30-5:30  p.m.  Mr.  Drew 
thought  this  was  due  to  fatigue  and  to 
traffic  conditions. 

In  the  discussion  it  was  pointed  out 
that  the  normal  fatigue  curve  goes  up 
before  noon  and  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  afternoon. 

THE    PERSONAL   INTERVIEW 

On  Thursday  morning  Mr.  Earl  B. 
Morgan,  formerly  Director  of  the  Em- 
ployment and  Service  Department  of 
the  Curtis  Publishing  Company,  sum- 
marized conclusions  arrived  at  after 
several  years  of  experience  in  using 
personal  interviews.  Some  of  the 
points  emphasized  can  be  indicated  by 
quoting  from  Mr.  Morgan. 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation         387 


The  first  relation  which  an  applicant  has 
with  the  employer,  his  reception,  has  a  very- 
strong  influence  on  the  interview.  It  is 
part  of  the  stage  setting  which  should  make 
the  best  possible  first  impression.  Cour- 
tesy should  be  the  watchword. 

A  real  interview  is  nothing  more  than 
an  orderly  means  of  getting  mutually 
acquainted  through  a  well-directed  conver- 
sation that  will  bring  out  just  as  much 
information,  in  a  friendly  and  courteous 
manner,  about  the  applicant  as  it  is  possible 
to  obtain. 

The  very  first  objective  of  the  interview 
should  be  to  find  a  point  of  contact,  some 
conversational  subject  on  which  the  appli- 
cant can  talk  intelligently  and  enthusias- 
tically. Don't  expect  to  get  under  his  skin 
by  talking  about  the  technicalities  of  your 
business.  Don't  overload  the  interview 
with  questions  about  facts  such  as  age, 
education,  and  experience,  etc.,  all  definite 
determinable  facts  obtainable  from  declara- 
tions on  the  application  form.  Use  the 
interview  to  get  acquainted.  The  inter- 
view, to  be  complete,  should  include  having 
the  applicant  meet  the  prospective  execu- 
tive. 

The  paper  read  on  Friday  morning 
by  Dr.  V.  V.  Anderson,  of  R.  H.  Macy 
and  Company,  introduced  the  cUnical 
viewpoint  in  the  interview  process. 
As  an  aid  in  putting  this  viewpoint 
into  practice,  Dr.  Anderson  has  pre- 
pared "A  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Em- 
ployment," which  is  placed  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  are  trained  by  him 
for  interviewing  in  his  organization. 
His  remarks  were  taken  largely  from 
this  guide.  This  guide  is  to  be  pub- 
hshed  in  full  in  the  Personnel  Journal 
for  June. 

Mr.  Alan  King,  of  the  National 
Retail  Dry  Goods  Association,  re- 
ported a  study  in  which  the  interview 
played  a  major  part,  although  an 
experiment  with  the  interview  was  not 
the    main    objective.     The    investiga- 


tion illustrates  the  actual  results  that 
can  be  obtained  in  using  the  interview 
for  fact-finding  and  in  making  a  defi- 
nite effort  to  improve  its  technique  and 
reliability.  This  investigation  was  a 
study  of  the  returned  goods  problem 
and  was  made  for  the  Pittsburgh  de- 
partment stores  by  the  Research  Bu- 
reau for  Retail  Training  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pittsburgh.  Its  purpose  was 
two-fold :  first,  to  gain  a  knowledge  of 
the  causes  for  the  return  of  merchan- 
dise, and  second,  to  find  whether  ornot, 
and  to  what  extent,  the  stores  were  re- 
sponsible. Three  different  attempts 
were  made  to  obtain  this  information 
by  interviews  with  customers  return- 
ing goods.  In  each  attempt  special 
efforts  were  made  to  improve  the 
technique  of  the  interviews  and  the 
training  of  the  interviewers  over  that 
of  previous  attempts.  The  results  ob- 
tained in  each  period  of  inter- 
viewing indicate  quite  clearly  that 
more  careful  training  of  the  inter- 
viewers and  efforts  to  improve  the 
conditions  and  technique  of  the  inter- 
views do  affect  the  results  materially. 
Round-table  discussions  of  the  in- 
terview ^nd  of  methods  for  its  study 
and  improvement  were  attended  by 
approximately  a  hundred  persons. 
The  chairman.  Dr.  B.  V.  Moore,  of 
Pennsylvania  State  College,  empha- 
sized the  fact  that,  although  the  Person- 
nel Research  Federation  arranged  for 
conferences  in  which  valuable  infor- 
mation could  be  presented  through 
formal  addresses  and  papers,  its  chief 
functions  were,  in  addition  to  carrying 
on  research  itself,  to  organize  and  ad- 
vise in  research  carried  on  by  co- 
operating organizations,  and  to  be 
the  clearing  house  for  distributing  the 


THE   PERSONNEL  JOTRN-U.,   VOL.    VI,    NO.   5 


388 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


findings.  In  view  of  these  aims,  the 
round-table  discussions  should  bring 
out  the  most  pertinent  problems  of  the 
interview  and  those  most  readily  in- 
vestigated, and  discover  opportunities 
for  undertaking  the  next  steps  in  such 
research. 

In  leading  the  discussion,  Dr.  Henry 
C.  Link,  of  Lord  and  Taylor,  stressed 
the  importance  of  arriving  at  the  past 
experience  of  the  one  interviewed,  and 
added  that  the  interviewer's  ingenuity 
alone  will  reveal  whether  the  appli- 
cant's interest  is  real  or  momentary. 

Mr.  Lloyd  L.  Miller,  of  the  Metro- 
pohtan  Life  Insurance  Company,  re- 
ported a  study  resulting  in  a  manual 
on  interviewing.  The  purposes  of  this 
manual  were:  (1)  To  develop  and  to 
popularize  the  knowledge  of  interview- 
ing already  at  hand  so  that  not  only 
large  organizations  with  personnel  de- 
partments, but  also  smaller  organiza- 
tions might  be  stimulated  to  develop 
a  scientific  procedure  in  interviewing. 
(2)  To  raise  the  question  whether  the 
interviewer  can  be  rated  by  subjec- 
tive standards.  (3)  To  ascertain  the 
causes  which  make  for  inaccuracy  in 
interviewing. 

Mr.  H.  B.  Bergen,  Manager  of  Per- 
sonnel Department  of  Henry  L.  Do- 
herty  and  Company,  stressed  the  im- 
portance of  the  interview  in  personnel 
administration  and  suggested  that  it 
might  be  possible  by  observation  of  the 
good  interviewers  to  develop  an  im- 
proved technique.  Mr.  G.  A.  Bowers 
of  Industrial  Relations  Counselors, 
Inc.,  said  that  both  from  a  research 
standpoint  and  from  a  practical  stand- 
point we  need  to  know  the  interview 
in  its  sub-classifications.  Outstand- 
ing needs  are  definitions  of  the  func- 


tions of  the  different  kinds  of  inter- 
views, characteristics  of  interviews, 
and  the  qualities  desired  in  in- 
terviewers in  the  different  t^\T3es  of 
interview.  Mr.  E.  B.  Morgan  ap- 
pealed for  more  thoroughness  and  for 
more  time  in  the  interview.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  interviewing  a 
three  thousand  dollar  applicant  is 
equivalent  to  an  interview  on  a  fifty 
thousand  dollar  investment. 

In  the  general  discussion  from  the 
floor,  the  possibility  of  standardizing 
the  interview  or  of  teaching  its  tech- 
nique was  challenged;  and  the  state- 
ment was  made  that  experience  is 
the  all-important  factor.  This  view- 
point, in  turn,  was  questioned.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  business  schools  have 
successfully  demonstrated  that  tech- 
nique does  have  an  important  place 
in  business  administration  and  that  it 
can  be  taught.  Applying  this  prui- 
ciple  to  the  interview,  we  ought  at 
least  to  have  records  of  experience  in 
the  trial  and  error  method  of  using 
it,  out  of  which  may  be  developed  a 
technique.  It  was  pointed  out  that 
the  chief  value  of  the  interview,  as 
compared  with  more  objective  tools, 
lies  in  its  flexibiUty,  but  this  flexibility 
does  not  preclude  good  technique. 
Technique  is  not  identical  with  rigid- 
ity of  form  or  procedure,  nor  does  it 
imply  consciousness  of  the  process. 
It  is  possible  to  learn  of  pitfalls  and 
avoid  them,  which  is  an  element  of 
good  technique.  Although  many  good 
interviewers  are  not  able  to  describe 
their  technique,  it  does  not  follow 
that  they  do  not  have  any  technique; 
for  greater  degree  of  perfection  in 
technique  results  in  less  consciousness 
of  it. 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


389 


In  leading  the  discussion  on  Friday 
afternoon,  Miss  Mary  Gilson,  of  In- 
dustrial Relations  Counselors,  Inc., 
reported  the  suggestions  of  a  com- 
mittee which  had  been  considering  the 
possibilities  of  studying  and  improving 
interview  procedures.  She  stated  that 
although  the  interview  seemed  intan- 
gible and  difficult  to  study,  it  ought  to 
be  possible  to  develop  its  technique, 
and  to  give  beginners  in  using  it  some 
benefit  from  the  experience  of  those 
who  have  used  it.  The  recommenda- 
tions of  the  committee  are  given  below 
as  modified  in  the  light  of  the  general 
discussion  which  followed  their  presen- 
tation. 

In  order  to  provide  a  situation  that 
would  bring  out  some  problems  of 
the  interview  and  the  possibilities  of 
studying  them,  the  committee  had 
arranged  for  two  demonstration  or 
clinical  interviews.  First,  Mr.  C.  S. 
Coler,  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
and  Manufacturing  Company,  as  em- 
ployer, interviewed  Mr.  Bigelow,  of 
the  New  York  Telephone  Company, 
as  an  applicant  for  a  position  as  per- 
sonnel officer  of  a  technical  night 
school.  The  second  interview  w^as  be- 
tween Mr.  Bigelow,  as  employer,  and 
Mr.  H.  D.  Valentine,  of  the  Central 
Hudson  Gas  and  Electric  Company, 
as  an  applicant  for  a  job  in  the  Com- 
mercial Department  of  Mr.  Bigelow's 
company.  These  interviews  stimu- 
lated discussion  of  the  technique  of 
interviewing,  and  lead  to  a  critical 
consideration  of  what  information  can 
be  gained  with  reasonable  reUabihty 
by  means  of  an  interview.  Mr.  B.  F. 
Shauffier,  of  the  American  Telephone 
and  Telegraph  Company,  led  in  this 
discussion  and  quite  ably  analyzed  the 
interviews  by  pertinent  questions. 


At  this  point  it  was  decided  that  for 
planning  specific  steps  that  should 
be  taken  next  in  studying  inter\'iew 
procedures,  the  group  should  be  di- 
vided, with  those  interested  in  college 
personnel  work  in  one  group,  and  those 
interested  in  industrial  personnel  in 
another  group.  The  suggestions  of  the 
industrial  group  for  next  steps  are  as 
follows : 

1 .  Prepare  a  manual  for  interviewers 
in  simple  practical  form. 

2.  Stimulate  interest  in  interviews 
and  bring  home  the  reaHzation  that 
interviews  can  be  unproved. 

3.  Provide  for  clinics  and  round- 
table  discussions  of  actual  interviews. 

4.  Collect  and  classify  problems  or 
questions  for  which  interviews  are 
expected  to  give  an  answer. 

5.  Collect  and  classify  different 
techniques  used.  Collect  examples  of 
what  are  thought  to  be  good  inter- 
views. 

6.  Get  skiKul  interviewers  to  give 
transcripts  of  actual  interviews  by 
dictograph  or  stenographic  report. 

7.  Collect  and  classify  problems  or 
questions  met  by  interviewers  in  their 
procedure. 

8.  List  variables  affecting  various 
types  of  interviews. 

9.  Compare  data  obtained  by  differ- 
ent methods  of  interviewing. 

The  coUege  group  met  with  Miss 
Grace  E.  Manson  of  the  University 
of  Michigan  Bureau  of  University  Re- 
search as  chairman.  From  a  lively 
discussion  led  by  Dean  F.  F.  Brad- 
shaw  of  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina, three  suggestions  were  evolved. 

1.  It  was  recommended  that  the 
Personnel  Research  Federation  con- 
sider the  advisability  of  pubUshing  a 
bulletin  which  will  bring  the  1925  re- 


390 


Conference  of  the  Personnel  Research  Federation 


port  on  the  personnel  work  done  by 
the  colleges  up  to  date. 

2.  It  was  recommended  that  a 
means  be  devised  for  getting  both  the 
spread  and  the  concentration  of  inter- 
view topics,  and  in  some  way  differen- 
tiate between  the  original  cause  for 
the  interview,  as  given  by  the  student 
at  the  time  the  interview  begins,  and 
the  underlying  real  cause  which  is 
brought  out  during  the  interview. 

3.  The  group  then  expressed  them- 
selves as  willing  to  send  in  detailed 
case  studies  on  some  one  topic  which 
a  previous  investigation  has  shown  to 
be  particularly  important. 

FRIDAY   EVENING   SESSION 

At  the  evening  session  following  the 
dinner  on  Friday,  Dr.  W.  V.  Bingham 
described  recent  developments  in  in- 
dustrial psychology  in  Europe  as  he 
had  observed  them  during  a  six  weeks 
visit  from  which  he  had  just  returned. 
He  described  the  ingenious  apparatus 
in  use  for  selecting  street  car  and  bus 
drivers  in  Paris,  which  has  been  in 
process  of  development  since  1904. 
A  similar  set  of  tests  for  the  same  pur- 
pose is  in  use  in  Prague,  where  a  trans- 
lation of  Army  Alpha  is  also  in  use. 
There  it  has  been  found  that  the  best 
motormen  score  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  median  of  candidates,  the  others 
apparently  being  either  too  slow  or  too 
bright  for  the  job.  In  touching  upon 
research  in  other  centers  in  England, 
Germany,  and  Switzerland,  Dr.  Bing- 
ham quoted  the  definition  of  the  duties 
of  the  industrial  psychologist  as  ex- 
pressed by  Leon  Walthers,  psychologist 
at  the  Suchard  Chocolate  Works  at 
Neufchatel:  "To  see  that  the  workers 


leave  the  factory  at  night  neither 
fatigued,  nor  irritated,  nor  nervous." 
As  means  to  this  end,  the  first  duty 
of  the  psychologist  is  to  conserve  the 
worker's  energy  and  reduce  fatigue 
by  finding  the  easiest,  simplest  and 
quickest  ways  of  doing  the  work; 
second,  by  training  the  employees  to 
be  skilful  in  using  better  ways  of 
working;  and  third,  by  devising  suit- 
able employment  tests  as  aids  in  plac- 
ing w^orkers  on  the  jobs  which  are 
most  in  Hne  with  their  natural  apti- 
tudes. Dr.  Bingham  closed  his  ad- 
dress with  an  appeal  for  a  clearer 
recognition  of  the  social  significance 
of  such  an  industrial  psychology,  in 
this  age  of  mass  production,  when  too 
often  the  individual  is  forgotten. 

Mr.  Johnson  O'Connor  gave  a  de- 
tailed account  of  the  experiments 
which  he  has  been  conducting  in  em- 
ployment psychology  at  the  General 
Electric  Company's  West  Lynn  Works. 
He  found  little,  if  any,  intercorrelation 
between  the  various  tests  he  has  been 
using,  several  of  which  have  already 
been  described  in  the  Personnel 
Journal;  but  he  did  find  that  execu- 
tives tend  to  score  high  in  all.  Ac- 
countants score  particularly  high  in 
the  number  checking  (number  com- 
parison) test.  The  Kent-Rosanoff  As- 
sociation Test  brought  out  some  ex- 
pected facts,  namely,  that  research 
workers  associate  very  unusual  words 
with  the  stimulus  words,  while  sales- 
men's association  words  are  of  the 
more  usual  kind.  In  an  English  vo- 
cabulary test  executives  score  higher 
than  college  professors.  Some  of  Mr. 
O'Connor's  results  will  be  presented 
in  forthcoming  numbers  of  the  Per- 
sonnel Journal. 


Book  Reviews 

HOW  TO  INFLUENCE  MEN 

By  Edgar  J.  Swift.     New  York:  Chas.  Scribners 
Sons,  1927.     Pp.  407 

Reviewed  by  H.  A.  Ovbrstreet 


Salesmen  are  the  strategic  figures  in  our 
modern  civilization.  They  are  the  makers 
of  business.  But  they  are  more  than  that: 
they  set  the  fashion  for  their  age,  give  it 
its  tone.  Do  they  win  by  clever  deception? 
Then,  because  they  win  in  that  way,  that 
way  becomes  the  admired  technique  for 
their  age.  Do  they  win  by  construc- 
tive service?  Then  constructive  service 
becomes  the  admired  technique  of  their 
age. 

It  is  profoundly  important,  then,  to 
know  in  what  direction  salesmanship  is 
tending.  Towards  the  buccaneer?  Or  to- 
wards the  engineer?  Is  salesmanship  in- 
creasingly becoming  a  profession,  with  a 
self-respecting  mission  to  perform,  a  mis- 
sion which  requires  not  only  intelligence  but 
a  social  motive,  or  are  its  interests  and 
methods  still  those  of  a  kind  of  civilized 
piracy? 

This  book  of  Dr.  Swift's,  a  revised  and 
enlarged  edition  of  his  "Business  Power 
Through  Psychology,"  serves  two  purposes. 
It  tells  the  individual  salesman  how  he  is  to 
go  about  his  individual  business  of  selling. 
It  tells  him,  in  short,  how  he  can  succeed, 
how  he  can  make  money  for  himself  and  his 
firm.  But  it  does  more  than  that.  It  sets 
standards  for  salesmanship,  which  are  the 
antithesis  of  the  standards  of  high-pres- 
sure buccaneering. 

Both  purposes  are  carried  out  with 
thoroughness.  The  criticism  which  might 
be  made  of  the  book  is  that  it  is  altogether 
too  thorough.  It  runs  into  far  more  pages 
than  is  necessary,  and  is  unduly  repetitious. 
It  might  have  been  cut   down  to  half  its 


length  and  been  more  effective  in  getting 
across  a  clear-cut  message.  But  the  fault 
is  not  a  great  one.  The  strength  of  the  book 
lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  based  upon  psycho- 
logical foundations  that  are  fairly  safe. 
The  book  is  perhaps  too  confident  of  the 
finality  of  some  of  its  psychology.  We  are 
realizing  nowadays  that  psychology  is  a 
rapidly  changing  science  and  that  a  too 
easy  dependence  upon  such  factors  as, 
"instincts,"  for  example,  may  prove  unwise. 
And  yet  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  sales- 
man can  be  helpfully  introduced  into  the 
perplexities  of  the  more  recent  psychologi- 
cal controversies.  On  the  whole,  since  the 
psychology  is  based  upon  broad  considera- 
tions of  human  behavior,  it  is  essentially 
sound.  In  that  respect,  the  book  is  in  de- 
lightful contrast  with  the  scores  of  volumes 
on  salesmanship  which  use  psychology  only 
as  a  magic  word  wherewith  to  entrap  the 
unwary. 

The  chapter  headings  will  indicate  the 
scope  of  the  book :  The  Psychology  of  Sales- 
manship; Creative  Salesmanship;  The 
Strategy  of  Salesmanship;  The  Tactics  of 
Salesmanship;  Selecting  Salesmen;  The 
Psychology  of  Personnel  Management; 
Thinking  as  an  Asset  in  Business;  The 
Psychology  of  Managing  Men;  The  Psychol- 
ogy of  Leadership;  Mental  Efficiency. 

One  curious  aspect  of  the  book  is  its  con- 
stant use  of  the  analogy  of  military  leader- 
ship. Military  leaders  are  pictured  as  ad- 
mirable exemplars  for  the  salesman.  One 
wonders  whether  the  author  has  really 
thought  that  analogy  through.  Is  business 
warfare?    Is  the  salesman  like  a  general 


391 


392 


Book  Reviews 


going  forth  to  meet  an  enemy?  Does  not 
that  sound  suspiciously  like  the  tactics  of 
high-pressure  salesmanship?  Does  not 
the  newer  salesmanship  build  itself  far  more 
securely  upon  the  analogy  of  a  cooperation 
between  mutually  interested  parties,  each 
contributing  to  the  other?  If  so,  must  not 
all  this  familiar  reference  to  military  strat- 
egy be  cast  out  of  our  salesmanship  books? 
If  the  cooperative  relationship  is  to  be 
stressed,  must  not  more  adequate  psycho- 


logical  foundations   for   salesmanship    be 
found? 

But  to  the  ordinary  salesman  and  to  the 
ordinary  manager  who  knows  little  of  psy- 
chology and  who  wishes  to  escape  the  snares 
of  the  pseudo-psychologist,  the  book  will 
prove  both  wholesome  and  helpful.  There 
is  much  sound  sense  in  it  and  a  constructive 
social  attitude.  It  is  one  of  the  books 
pointing  the  way  to  a  more  adequate  type 
of  business  success. 


THE  SPRINGS  OF  HUMAN  ACTION 

By  M.  K.  Thomson.     New  York:  D.  Appleton  and 
Comvamj,  1927.     Pp.  501 

Reviewed  by  Mark  A.  May 


The  subtitle  of  this  book  is  "A  Psycho- 
logical Study  of  the  Sources,  Mechanism, 
and  Principles  of  Motivation  in  Human 
Behavior."  The  preface  lists  seven  aims 
of  the  volume,  the  first  of  which  is  "to  make 
a  systematic  and  comprehensive  study  of  all 
the  springs  of  human  action."  Whatever 
else  it  may  be,  the  study  offered  is  surely 
comprehensive.  Some  notion  of  the  ground 
covered  may  be  had  from  a  glance  at  the 
chapter  headings.  A  chapter  is  devoted  to 
each  of  the  following  terms  which  are  listed 
as  motives:  physical  activity;  autonomic 
acts  and  reflexive  responses;  habits;  in- 
stincts; emotions;  feelings;  ideas;  interests; 
will,  choice,  and  personality;  self-regard; 
prejudice;  preparatory  reactions;  acquired 
and  substitute  motive;  negative  motives; 
the  subconscious  mind;  autosuggestion; 
group  suggestion;  social  motives;  love; 
ralues;  economic  motives;  morale;  and 
aesthetic  motives.  These  chapter  headings 
are  evidently  regarded  as  general  classes  or 
kinds  of  motives  and  under  each  are  numer- 
ous sub-divisions.  The  following  is  only 
a  partial  list  of  the  things  mentioned  as 
driving  forces:  anger,  appetite,  attitudes, 
authority,  cravings,  character,  conscience, 
customs,  disgust,  desire,  euphoria,  fatigue, 
fear,  freedom,  glandular  activity,  inspira- 
tion, insight,  institutions,  irritability,  iner- 
tia, imagery,  joy,  law,  mood,  mores,  obses- 
sions, purpose,  pleasantness,  prestige,  play, 
reflexes,  random  movements,  restlessness, 


rhythm,  sensations,  suggestion,  sentiments 
sorrow,  surplus  energy,  temperament,  and 
wishes.  A  more  complete  list  may  be  ob- 
tained from  the  index.  Apparently  almost 
anything  from  cosmic  forces  to  the  mysteries 
of  the  subconscious  mind  may  be  springs  of 
human  action. 

Motives  are  classified  rather  systemati- 
cally according  to  the  traditional  categories 
of  psychology  and  are  described  mainly  by 
the  use  of  contrasting  terms  such  as :  simple 
or  complex,  positive  or  negative,  conscious 
or  unconscious,  native  or  acquired,  per- 
manent or  changing,  satisfied  or  thwarted, 
reinforced  or  inhibited,  and  the  like;  also 
by  such  descriptive  adjectives  as,  disguised, 
sublimated,  coordinated,  integrated,  mixed, 
artificial. 

The  general  procedure  is  from  the  simpler 
motives  to  the  more  complex,  "from  the 
mechanical  to  the  relatively  more  psychi- 
cal, from  the  individual  to  the  relatively 
more  social  phases  of  motivation."  .\fter 
reviewing  and  rejecting  six  methods  of 
approach,  he  adopts  the  comprehensive 
method  on  the  grounds  that  no  one  of  the 
current  theories  of  motivation  will  account 
for  all  the  facts  and  with  the  hope  that  cer- 
tain harmony  among  these  theories  may  be 
established.  His  reasons  for  rejecting  other 
methodsof  approach  are  that  these  methods 
usually  involved  considerable  overlapping 
besides  being  rather  fragmentary. 

In  the  preface  Dr.  Thomson   expresses 


Book  Reviews 


393 


the  hope  that  his  book  will  be  of  use  to 
students  of  psychology  and  the  social 
sciences  and  also  to  parents,  teachers,  law- 
yers, ministers,  and  salesmen.  It  is  to  be 
feared  that  this  comprehensive  type  of 
treatment  of  motivation  will  not  be  as  use- 
ful to  these  groups  of  readers  as  some  of  the 
methods  that  he  has  rejected.  In  the  first 
place  the  problem  of  comprehending  the 
entire  field  of  human  motivation  is  after  all 
an  academic  one.  Parents,  teachers,  judges 
and  salesmen  are  more  concerned  with  (a) 
determining  the  motives  that  lie  back  of 
specific  acts,  or  (6)  with  manipulating  mo- 
tives so  that  certain  conduct  will  result. 
It  would  seem  that  the  "case  method"  or 
the  "stimulus-response"  method  would  be 
more  suitable  for  dealing  with  such  prob- 
lems than  the  comprehensive  survey 
method.  A  book  like  this  one  is  liable  to 
leave  the  lay  reader  somewhat  bewildered 
and  with  the  feeling  of  the  observer  who 
reported  that  he  could  not  see  the  forest 
for  the  trees. 

The  comprehensive  method  of  approach 
is  likely  to  be  unsatisfactory  to  the  psychol- 
ogist and  the  philosopher  also.     For   the 


psychologist  it  is  too  much  on  the  descrip- 
tive level.  He  is  more  apt  to  be  interested 
in  the  experimental  method  which  seeks  ex- 
planations of  motives  rather  than  enumera- 
tions and  descriptions  of  them.  In  speak- 
ing of  the  experimental  method  Dr.  Thom- 
son remarks  that  it  must  supplement  the 
comprehensive  method.  Many  psycholo- 
gists would  reverse  this  and  say  that  the 
comprehensive  view  should  supplement 
laboratory  experimentation. 

The  philosopher,  as  well  as  the  psychol- 
ogist, is  apt  to  be  dissatisfied  with  such  a 
comprehensive  survey  of  motivation  as  that 
given  by  Dr.  Thomson  mainly  because  it 
does  not  deal  with  the  fundamental  problem 
of  causation.  How  is  it  that  reflexes, 
habits,  instincts,  emotions  and  the  dozens 
of  other  things  listed  as  motives  really  bring 
to  pass  this  or  that  act?  In  what  sense  are 
motives  causes? 

In  general  the  chief  criticism  of  a  book 
like  this  is  that  in  aiming  at  everything  it 
hits  nothing  squarely;  and  that  being 
written  for  everybody  it  is  more  or  less  un- 
satisfactory to  all. 


PERSONNEL 

By  George  R.  Hulverson.    New  York:  The  Ronald 
Press  Company,  1927.     Pp.  400 

Reviewed  by  Ordway  Tead 


Mr.  Hulverson's  study  is  the  most  recent 
general  text  designed  to  cover  this  subject. 
It  has  to  be  examined,  however,  in  relation 
to  the  scope  and  purpose  of  the  Business 
Administration  Series  of  which  it  is  a  part. 
Professor  McKinsey,  in  his  Editor's  Preface, 
briefly  points  out  the  necessity  of  having 
organized  material  which  will  give  execu- 
tives a  general  view  of  the  workings  of  the 
several  important  staff  departments.  This 
book  is  designed  to  give  the  general  execu- 
tive a  picture  of  the  essential  features  of 
the  work  of  the  personnel  department.  The 
discussion  of  detailed  practices  is  excellent 
and  represents  an  exposition  of  the  best 
modern  experience  from  a  matter-of-fact, 


business  point  of  view.  The  present  re- 
viewer, however,  cannot  agree  that  the 
author  fulfills  his  avowed  intention  of  say- 
ing something  about  all  the  important  items 
in  the  field.  There  is  no  consideration,  for 
example,  of  methods  of  negotiating  terms  of 
employment  or  employee  representation, 
or  of  employees'  stock  ownership,  or  of  the 
ways  and  means  of  coordinating  personnel 
activities  with  those  of  other  departments. 
Also,  the  author  subordinates  the  discus- 
sion of  safety  and  health  work  by  placing  it 
in  a  section  of  a  chapter  on  service  work, 
thus  seeming  to  imply  that  he  does  not  con- 
sider it  a  business  asset  of  the  same  worth 
and  value  as  an  employment  oflBce  and  train- 


394 


Book  Reviews 


ing  department.  The  bibliography  is  very 
brief.  In  short,  to  serve  the  purpose  of 
this  series  best,  the  author  might  well  have 
done  far  less  with  the  description  of  forms 


and  procedure  and  more  with  an  explanation 
of  the  reasons  for  personnel  work  and  the 
ways  of  getting  the  right  personnel  outlook 
into  the  minds  of  general  executives. 


WAGE  SCALES  AND  JOB  EVALUATION 

By  Merrill  R.  Lott.     New  York:  The  Ronald  Press 
Company,  1926.     Pp.  161 

Reviewed  by  John  S.  Keir 


The  classical  economist  has  always  held 
to  the  central  fact  that  wages  are  the  sums 
paid  for  particular  kinds  of  services,  and 
that  through  this  sale  of  services  they  be- 
come subject  to  the  general  laws  of  supply 
and  demand.  Lott  proceeds  from  the  cen- 
tral fact  that  wages  are  one  of  the  largest 
elements  of  business  costs  in  all  kinds  of 
businesses,  but  that  particular  wages  (and 
salaries)  are  more  and  more  being  based 
upon  particular  services  rendered.  It  is 
the  measurement  of  this  particularity  with 
which  his  book  is  chiefly  concerned. 

The  early  part  of  the  book  contains  little 
that  is  original  although  it  does  restate 
much  that  it  is  quite  worth  while  to  restate. 
The  author  points  out  for  example  (page  4) 
that  the  claim  often  made  that  modern  in- 
centive plans  are  good  because  there  is  less 
rate  cutting  under  them  than  there  was  un- 
der former  plans  is  not  really  so  much  a 
measure  of  the  desirability  of  the  new  plans 
as  it  is  an  expression  of  the  fact  that  some 
of  present  incentive  methods  seem  to  be 
better  than  were  some  of  the  older  methods. 
He  repeats  also  the  point  that  F.  W.  Taylor 
stressed  so  much  that  low  wages  do  not 
necessarily  mean  low  labor  costs;  although 
Taylor  went  one  step  farther  and  stated 
the  then  revolutionary  doctrine  that  it  is 
not  only  possible  but  highly  desirable  to 
so  organize  that  it  is  possible  to  pay  high 
wages  and  still  to  have  low  labor  costs. 

Lott  reiterates  the  doctrine  that  mutual 
understanding  and  confidence — of  which 
wages  may  be  one  external  expression — 
are  basic  to  the  successful  conduct  of  in- 


dustry. This  truth  has  of  course  been  the 
underlying  philosophy  of  most  forward 
looking  industrial  relations  practice  albeit 
it  may  take  practical  form  in  many  different 
ways;  the  most  common  of  which  are  the 
many  forms  of  employee  representation 
plans  or  contractual  union  relationships. 

The  author  states  that  "the  answer  then 
for  an  increase  in  real  wages  must  be  found 
in  decreased  production  costs."  One  can 
quarrel  with  this  statement  only  in  the  in- 
ference that  that  is  the  only  way  to  increase 
real  wages.  The  biggest  field  for  the  re- 
duction of  costs  today  lies  not  in  production 
costs  but  in  distribution  costs.  Roughly 
there  are  some  thirty  billions  of  dollars 
involved  in  the  process  of  making  mer- 
chandise and  getting  it  to  the  consumers  in 
this  country  alone.  Of  this  thirty  billions 
about  half  represents  the  costs  that  accrue 
after  the  merchandise  leaves  the  factory 
gates.  The  field  of  the  fifteen  billion  in 
factory  costs  has  been  ploughed  and  re- 
ploughed.  The  field  of  the  fifteen  billions 
of  distribution  costs  has  scarcely  been 
touched. 

The  standardization  of  wage  rates  and 
its  corollary  of  careful  job  analysis  Lott 
stresses  as  fundamental.  In  his  "Shop 
Management"  Taylor  pointed  out  the  need 
of  job  study  while  Gilbreth  in  "Motion 
Study"  talks  of  a  reclassification  of  occu- 
pations. The  standardization  of  wage  rates 
seems  to  ge  a  natural  concomitant  of  the 
improved  technique  which  further  study  is 
developing  along  the  lines  of  the  suggestion 
of  Taylor  and  Gilbreth. 


Book  Reviews 


395 


To  this  reviewer  the  heart  of  the  book  is 
contained  in  the  chapters  on  criteria  for 
judging  the  worth  of  any  job  (Chapter  VI) 
and  the  actual  experience  with  these  criteria 
described  in  Chapter  VIII. 

Fifteen  criteria  are  developed  by  which 
any  job  may  be  judged.  It  is  of  course 
academically  possible  to  quarrel  with  any 
one  of  the  fifteen  and  to  raise  the  question 
whether  there  may  not  be  sixteen  or  twenty- 
five.  But  these  academic  questions  are. 
after  all  beside  the  point.  The  important 
thing  is  that  such  a  list  forces  the  user  to 
consider  not  just  a  single  factor,  but  a  total 
situation.  On  so  important  a  subject,  such 
consideration  is  not  only  desirable  but 
basic. 

By  way  of  summary,  it  may  be  well  to 
outline  the  steps  which  the  author  considers 
in  the  determination  of  a  scientific  adjust- 
ment of  wage  scales.  These  steps  are  four 
in  number  and  are  as  follows : 


1.  Distinguishing    between    the    impor- 

tance of  the  various  factors  which 
influence  the  worth  of  a  job. 

2.  Determining  the  extent  to  which  each 

factor  enters  into  the  various  lines 
of  work  for  which  the  wage  rates  are 
to  be  established. 

3.  Computing   an   index  number   whose 

numerical  value  will  express  the  rela- 
tionship that  should  exist  between 
wage  rates. 

4.  Interpreting  the  index  figure  into  ac- 

tual wage  rates. 

This  is  an  interesting  book  partly  be- 
cause it  states  old  truths  in  a  new  setting 
and  partly  because  it  furnishes  a  new  tech- 
nique for  the  scientific  approach  to  a  very 
old  problem.  Not  the  least  satisfaction  in 
reading  the  book  is  the  fact  that  it  is  only 
155  pages  in  length,  all  told — and  the  print 
is  sufficiently  large  to  be  read  without  effort. 


POLITICAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOCRACY 

1776-1926 

By  W.  Jett  Lauck.     New  York:  Funk  and  W agnails 
Company,  1926.     Pp.  374 

Reviewed  by  E.  R.  Burton 


There  is  much  in  Dr.  Lauck's  book  to 
repay  a  first  reading  and  considerable  for 
which  it  may  serve  as  a  reference.  The 
author's  bias,  however,  as  a  professional 
advocate  for  organized  labor  is  evident 
throughout  the  book  and  mars  the  interpre- 
tation by  causing  him  too  often  to  see  em- 
ployers in  their  worst  light. 

The  inclusion  of  dates  in  the  title  is  mis- 
leading, for  the  volume  in  no  sense  traces 
historically  the  development  of  either  politi- 
cal or  industrial  democracy  during  the 
century  and  a  half  indicated.  True,  there 
are  three  and  a  half  pages  of  the  first  chap- 
ter which  bear  a  sub-title  suggestive  of  such 
historical  treatment;  and  they  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  "politically  democracy 
thus  may  be  said  to  have  spread  over  the 
face  of  the  entire  world  since  the  American 
Declaration    of    Independence    was    pro- 


nounced." But  the  sole  justification  for 
the  title  seems  to  be  the  author's  faith  in 
his  particular  conception  of  democracy  as 
something  which  started  in  1776  and  by  1926 
gave  assurance  of  its  inevitable  extension 
from  the  political  to  the  industrial  field. 

There  is  a  chapter  on  the  "post-war  re- 
volt against  industrial  autocracy"  which 
quotes  at  length  from  pronouncements  of 
religious  and  other  socially  minded  organi- 
zations regarding  the  need  for  and  nature 
of  industrial  democracy.  The  author  in- 
timates that  out  of  these  varying  opinions 
there  has  developed  a  consensus  that 
"industrial  democracy  now  means  self- 
government  and  equality  of  opportunity  in 
industry  as  in  political  life;  a  new  order  of 
industry  ....  wherein  all  shall  be  equal 
and  all  shall  be  enfranchised  and  have  their 
rights."     The  quotations  which  follow  from 


396 


Book  Reviews 


a  dozen  men  prominent  in  labor  and  busi- 
ness circles  do  not  seem  to  warrant  this 
feeling  of  assurance  that  there  is  common 
recognition  of  what  industrial  democracy 
is  or  can  be. 

There  is  an  excellent  statement  (p.  78) 
of  organized  labor's  opposition  to  what  it 
chooses  to  call  "company  unions."  Con- 
sciously or  otherwise  from  that  point  on 
the  author  seems  to  have  taken  the  trade 
unionist's  implied  definition  of  industrial 
democracy  as  his  standard  in  judging  all 
management-instigated  plans  of  employee 
representation. 

The  industrial  relations  policies  of 
twenty  companies  and  of  two  industries  are 
analyzed  in  the  chapter  entitled  "Outstand- 
ing and  Representative  Attempts  towards 
Employee  Representation  and  Industrial 
Democracy. ' '  Fourteen  of  these  have  plans 
of  employee  representation,  while  the  others 
have  what  the  author  regards  as  other  evi- 
dences of  the  employers'  sympathy  with  the 


movement  for  industrial  democracy.  Dr. 
Lauck  devotes  the  next  two  chapters  to  a 
comparative  evaluation  of  the  policies  and 
plans  analyzed,  and  by  a  process  of  elimina- 
tion (because  of  one  deficiency  or  another) 
the  list  diminishes  until  only  the  Mitten 
plan  remains.  Unfortunately,  even  it  falls 
short  of  perfection  because  no  labor  union  is 
recognized  as  the  basis  of  collective  bargain- 
ing (though  we  are  told  the  management  is 
willing  to  take  that  step  whenever  the  men 
ask  it)  and  because  consideration  has  not 
yet  been  given  to  unemployment  preven- 
tion or  to  improvement  of  housing  facilities 
for  employees. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  in  this  book  much 
evidence  of  first-hand  acquaintance  with 
the  operation  and  results  of  any  employee 
representation  plan  other  than  the  Mitten 
plan.  But  it  is  worth  reading  as  an  at- 
tempted rationalization  of  organized  la- 
bor's emotional  reaction  to  "company 
unions." 


MENTAL  TESTS  IN  CLINICAL  PRACTICE 

By  F.  L.  Wells.     Yonkers,  New  York:  World  Book 
Company,  1927.     Pp.  315 

Reviewed  by  Stevenson  Smith 


Few  psychologists  have  had  as  much  clini- 
cal experience  as  the  author  of  the  present 
book.  In  a  volimae  of  three  hundred  pages, 
in  which  test  description  is  incidental, 
Wells  deals  chiefly  with  method  in  testing. 
The  methods  of  clinical  procedure  have  in 
the  past  been  kept  something  of  a  trade 
secret  among  psychologists.  This  has  not 
been  so  much  because  of  an  unwillingness 
to  reveal  the  procedure  used  in  any  clinic 
as  because  of  a  reluctance  to  state  methods 
that  have  been  but  poorly  evaluated.  In 
this  book  Wells  never  tells  us  what  he  thinks 
except  in  conjunction  with  what  others 
think.  He  has  successfully  subordinated 
his  personal  opinion  in  questions  that  have 
not  yet  been  experimentally  determined. 
He  has  gathered  together  practically  all 
the  available  material  concerning  the 
methods  of  presenting  tests.    His  hundred 


and  fifty-nine  references  have  really  been 
abstracted.  In  organizing  the  abstracted 
material  the  author  has  been  systematic, 
and  his  interpretation  of  the  material  shows 
both  intelligence  and  conscientious  care. 

The  book  will  be  popular  because  it  is 
so  easily  understood.  The  author  has  not, 
however,  sacrificed  subject  matter  in  order 
to  secure  simplicity.  Except  for  the  space 
devoted  to  case  histories  almost  every  page 
is  filled  with  significant  material.  Even 
the  case  histories  are  well  selected  and  are, 
of  course,  pedagogically  essential  to  the 
beginning  student. 

As  a  text  the  book  is  good.  A  well- 
informed  teacher  will  find  in  it  little  to  take 
exception  to.  Statistical  considerations 
that  have  no  place  in  such  a  book  may  be 
appropriately   introduced  by  the  teacher. 

Although   certain   tests,    such   as  Stan- 


Book  Reviews 


397 


ford,  Kuhlmann,  performance  tests,  and 
free  association  tests  are  considered,  it  is 
the  method  of  administration  and  interpre- 
tation upon  which  the  author  lays  stress. 

The    privacy    of    a    clinical    laboratory 
makes  it  easy  for  a  clinician  to  fall  into 


habits  of  bad  technique.  His  colleagues 
seldom  see  him  in  action  and  more  seldom 
still  do  they  give  him  constructive  criti- 
cism. This  book  is  to  be  especially  recom- 
mended to  self  trained  clinical  psychologists, 
that  is,  to  the  majority  of  the  profession. 


ABNORMAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

By  Max  F.  Meyer.     Columbia,  Mo.:  Lucas  Brothers, 
1927.     Pp.  278 

Reviewed  by  Shepherd  I.  Franz 


The  recent  publication  of  so  many  text- 
books dealing  with  abnormal  psychology  is 
probably  largely  due  to  war  and  post-war 
experiences — personal  and  general.  Indi- 
vidual interests  are  predominantly  appar- 
ent, and  the  texts  have  values  in  accordance 
with  the  writers'  standpoints  and  methods. 
In  this  respect  Meyer's  book  is  outstanding, 
because  it  is  theory — and  philosophy. 

The  author  has  a  system  to  advocate, 
the  system  that  has  been  propounded  in 
his  "Psychology  of  the  Other-One."  This 
system  gives  us  a  harmonious  psychology, 
but  from  it,  we  are  told  (p. 26),  it  is  "possible 
to  foretell  deductively  what  kinds  of  abnorma- 
lities are  to  be  expected  in  actual  life."  Pre- 
occupation is  the  reason  for  mental  ab- 
normalities. This  term  is  defined  (p.  49) 
as  the  equivalent  of  redintegration,  and 
it  is  "explained  hypothetically  by  the  tem- 
porary contact  improvement  in  the 
synapses."  Psychological  events  are  ex- 
plained on  this  basis  of  synaptic  variations, 
except  when  the  author  wants  to  use  other 
explanations.  It  appears  to  matter  little 
that  we  know  little  of  the  synapses  and  their 
variations;  we  can  guess  and  we  can  fit 
guesses  into  a  system.  Knowing  as  little 
of  the  watery  content  of  the  neurons,  we 
might  equally  well  construct  a  system  of 
psychology  on  the  basis  of  aquatic  specula- 
tions, but  the  common  term  "humidity" 
might  not  attract  the  same  amount  of  at- 
tention as  the  less  known  word  "synapse." 

The  author's  neurology  of  habit  forma- 
tion is  constructed  of  guessed  bricks  and 
assumed    mortar.    His    neurological     dia- 


gram which  is  designated  "the  proper  dia- 
gram to  illustrate  habit  formation"  (p. 
273),  is  understandable,  just  as  is  the  "new 
art,"  only  when  the  theoretical  viewpoint 
is  attained.  The  term  levels  (p.  43)  which 
Meyer  approves,  is  only  a  teleological, 
picturesque,  and  perhaps  archaic,  neurolog- 
ical concept.  Meyer  objects  (p.  274)  to 
teleology,  but  not  when  he  discusses  in- 
stinct which  he  defines  as  having  "social 
significance"  (p.  36),  nor  when  he  says  (p. 
8)  that  emotions  are  "wasted"  reactions. 
The  use  of  the  term  "drive"  (which  is  dep- 
recated) does  not  appear  to  the  reviewer 
to  have  any  more  baneful  connotation  than 
"social  significance." 

Meyer  would  throw  out  as  mythology 
the  term,  "satisfyingness"  in  explaining 
habit  formation  (p.  269)  but  (p.  274)  he  does 
not  hesitate  to  say  "the  second  response 
....  which  we  have  above  shown  to  be 
necessarily  satisfying,  etc." 

It  is  the  occurrence  of  an  impulse  from  a 
definite  motor  reaction  to  a  definite  sen- 
sory stimulation  which  makes  us  conclude 
that  a  certain  path  is  short,  and  not,  as 
Meyer  says  (p.  45),  that  "the  shortness  of  a 
certain  path  which  in  a  given  instance 
causes  most  of  the  nervous  flux  to  go  from  a 
definite  sensory  point  to  a  definite  motor 
point." 

Many  other  neurological  explanations 
and  statements  might  be  quoted  and  dis- 
puted, but  sufficient  have  been  given  to 
indicate  possible  different  interpretations 
and  supposedly  factual  statements  to  which 
the  author  and  the  reviewer  are  not  mutu- 


398 


Book  Reviews 


ally  willing  to  subscribe.  The  reviewer, 
who  is  immediately  interested  in  the  neuro- 
logical correlates  (or  explanations,  if  you 
will)  of  mental  conditions,  is  certain  on  his 
side  that  the  intimate  nervous  states  are 
less  known  than  the  mental  (or  their  mani- 
festations; behavior,  if  one  cares  to  use  the 
term),  whereas  the  author  assumes  the  neu- 
rological to  be  well  grounded.  It  is  because 
of  this  latter  view  that  Meyer  deplores  the 
"far  too  little  consideration  to  the  neurolog- 
ical fact"  in  mental  states  and  to  its  neg- 
lect he  attributes  the  bad  repute  of  psychol- 
ogy among  the  followers  of  educational  and 
of  applied  psychology. 

The  discussions  of  mania  and  of  epilepsy, 
which  Meyer  thinks  are  due  to  a  high  degree 
of  neuron  conductivity,  are  not  convincing. 
How  can  one  reconcile  the  conditions  in 
petit  mal  with  those  of  "high  conductivity" 
in  grand  mal,  or  shall  we  say  they  are  totally 
different?  Epilepsy,  it  may  not  be  neces- 
sary to  say,  is  not  a  disease;  it  is  the  name 
for  convulsive  states,  and  there  may  be  a 
dozen  different  kinds  of  epilepsies.  Some 
are  associated  with  recognizable  brain 
lesions,  while  others  are  not  associated  with 
acceptably   defined    lesions.     Then   again, 


why  separate  from  the  convulsive  lesions 
states  of  tremor,  tic,  chorea,  contracture, 
etc.?  Neurologically  they  are  at  least 
closely  allied  to  convulsions. 

The  author's  view  of  dementia  precox  is 
that  it  is  "the  intellectual  second  childhood 
occurring  naturally  in  old  age,  coming  to 
some  people  long  before  they  reach  old 
age."  He  ol)jects  to  psychiatrists  because 
they  classify  the  forms  of  dementia  precox, 
and  because  classification  "does  not  seem  to 
serve  any  purpose."  Meyer  seems  to  im- 
ply that  delusion  is  the  chief  characteristic 
of  dementia  precox  and  he  uses  the  term 
paranoia  in  a  sense  different  from  that  of 
psychiatrists. 

In  a  book  supposedly  scientific  there  is 
no  excuse  for  some  of  the  imputations,  for 
example  that  relating  to  a  case  of  dementia 
precox,  who  exhibited  much  "word  salad." 
The  author  says  (p.  250)  "it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  the  book  is  printed  in  Los  Angeles, 
although  the  author  lives  in  Wisconsin." 

The  reviewer  would  recommend  the  book 
to  teachers  of  abnormal  psychology.  He 
would  be  sorrj'  to  be  compelled  to  use 
it  to  teach  students  the  facts  of  abnor- 
mality. 


APPLIED  PSYCHOLOGY 

By  A.  T.  Poffenherger.     New  York:  D.  Appleton 
and  Company,  1927.     Pp.  586 

Reviewed  by  Max  Freyd 


Hollingworth  and  Poffenberger's  "Ap- 
plied Psychology"  for  ten  years  enjoj^ed  the 
distinction  of  being  the  leading  authentic 
Ijook  on  the  subject.  The  present  greatly 
expanded  volume  is  not  offered  as  a  revised 
edition  of  that  book,  but  as  an  entirely  new 
one.  In  its  preparation  Dr.  Poffenherger 
has  acted  alone,  since  Dr.  Hollingworth 
has  shifted  his  interests  to  other  fields  of 
research. 

The  first  part  of  the  volume  covers  indi- 
vidual competence  as  affected  l)y  heredity, 
age,  sex,  work,  fatigue,  rest,  sleep,  ventila- 
tion, illumination,  distraction,  drugs,  and 
stimulants.  The  second  part  deals  with 
the  application  of  psychology  in  various 


professions  and  activities,  including  indus- 
try, business,  law,  medicine,  and  education. 
It  would  be  fruitless  for  this  reviewer 
to  point  out  the  individual  instances  where 
he  differs  with  the  author;  for  the  fact  re- 
mains that  this  volume  is  beyond  any  com- 
parison the  best  treatise  on  the  subject. 
It  is  a  difficult  task  indeed  to  compress  into 
one  volume  (even  one  of  nearly  600  pages) 
the  fundamental  facts  of  a  young  science 
which  is  outgrowing  its  clothes  every 
year.  Dr.  Poffenberger  is  to  be  compli- 
mented on  the  skill  with  which  he  has  car- 
ried out  his  purpose.  His  work  can  be 
recommended  without  reservation  to  all 
students  of  applied  psychology. 


Book  Reviews 
New  Books 


399 


AcHiNSTEiN,  AsHER.  Buying  Power  of  La- 
bor and  Post-war  Cycles.  New  York: 
Columbia  University  Press,  1927.  164  p. 
$3.00. 

Adler,  Alfred.  Understanding  Human 
Nature.  New  York:  Greenberg,  Pub- 
lisher, 1927.    299  p.    $3.50. 

AvELiNG,  Francis.  Directing  Mental  En- 
ergy. New  York:  George  H.Doran  Com- 
pany, 1927.    286  p.    $2.50. 

Babson,  Roger  Ward.  Instincts  and  Emo- 
tions, Should  They  be  Suppressed  or 
Harnassed?  New  York:  Revell,  1927. 
181  p.    $2.00. 

Bacon,  Corinne.  Standard  Catalog,  Social 
Sciences  Section.  New  York:  The  H. 
W.  Wilson  Company,  1927.     165  p.    $2.00. 

Barry,  Frederick.  The  Scientific  Habit 
of  Thought.  New  York:  Columbia  Uni- 
versity Press,  1927.     371  p.     $3.50. 

Bimba,  Anthony.  The  History  of  the 
American  Working  Class.  New  York: 
International  Publishers,  1927.  360  p. 
S2.75. 

BossARD,  James  Herbert  Siword.  Prob- 
lems of  Social  Well-being.  New  York: 
Harper  &  Brothers,  1927.     654  p.    S3. 50. 

Burgess,  Robert  Wilbur.  Introduction 
to  the  Mathematics  of  Statistics.  Boston: 
Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1927.  312  p. 
$2.50. 

Cameron,  Edward  Herbert.  Educational 
Psychology.  New  York:  The  Century 
Company,  1927.    481  p.    82.50. 

Chapman,  Harold  B.  Organized  Research 
in  Education.  Columbus,  O.:  Ohio  State 
University  Press,  1927.    231  p.    $.150 

Cheney,  O.  H.  The  New  Competition,  and 
Its  Demands  on  Management.  New  York: 
Eilert  Printing  Company,  318  W.  39th  St., 
1927.    21  p.    Apply. 

Clendening,  Logan,  M.D.  The  Human 
Body.  New  York:  A.  A.  Knopf,  Inc., 
1927.     421  p.    $6.00. 

CONYNGTON,   ThOMAS,   AND   BeNNETT, 

Robert  Joseph.    Corporation  Procedure. 
New    York:   The   Ronald    Press,     1927. 
1499  p.    $10.00. 
Crabb,  Charles  G.,  and  Cheney,  Clay- 
ton.    The  Science  of  Getting  a  Job.     Mil- 


waukee: The  Metropolitan  Press,  1927. 
119  p.    $1.00. 

Crabbe,  Ernest  H.,  and  Slinker,  Clay 
D.  General  Business  Training.  Cincin- 
nati: South-Western  Publishing  Com- 
pany, 1927.     314  p.    $1.32. 

Dana,  R.  T.  The  Human  Machine  in  In- 
dustry. New  York:  Codex  Book  Com- 
pany, 1927.    328  p.    $4.00. 

DiETZ,  Frederick  Charles.  The  Indus- 
trial Revolution.  New  York:  Henry  Holt 
&  Company,  1927.     122  p.    85ff. 

Downey,  June  Etta.  The  Kingdom  of  the 
Mind.  New  York:  The  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, 1927.     216  p.    $2.00. 

Driesch,  Hans  Adolph  Eduard.  Mind 
and  Body.  New  York:  Dial  Press,  1927. 
191  p.    $3.00. 

DuNLAP,  Knight.  The  Role  of  Eye-muscles 
and  Mouth-muscles  in  the  Expression  of 
the  Emotions.  Worcester,  Mass:  Clark 
University,  1927,  apply. 

East,  Edward  Murray.  Heredity  and 
Human  Affairs.  New  York:  Charles 
Scribners  Sons,  1927.     332  p.    $3.50. 

Fisher,  Mrs.  Dorothea  Francis  Can- 
field.  Why  Stop  Learning?  New  York: 
Harcourt,  Brace  &  Company,  1927.  310  p. 
$2.00. 

Florence,  Philip  Sargant.  Economics 
and  Human  Behaviour.  New  York:  W. 
W,  Norton,  1927.    95  p.    $1.00. 

Freud,  Sigmund.  The  Problem  of  Lay- 
Analyses.  New  York:  Brentano's,  1927. 
316  p.    $2.50. 

GowiN,  Enoch  Burton.  The  Executive 
and  His  Control  of  Men.  New  York: 
Macmillan  Company,  1927,  1915.  364  p. 
$2.00. 

Hansen,  Alvin  Harvey.  Business-Cycle 
Theory.  Boston:  Ginn  &  Compam^,  1927. 
228  p.    $2.00. 

Hart,  Hornell  Norris.  The  Science  of 
Social  Relations.  New  York:  Henry  Holt 
&  Company,  1927.     683  p.    S4.50. 

Hawkes,  Herbert  Edwin.  College — 
What's  the  Use?  Garden  City,  N.  Y.: 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Company,  1927. 
148  p.    $2.00. 

Hill,  Archibald  Vivian.     Living  Machin- 


400 


Book  Reviews 


cry.  New  York:  Harcourt,  Brace  & 
Company,  1927.  327  p.  $3.00. 
Hill,  Archibald  Vivian.  Muscular  Move- 
ment in  Man;  the  Factors  Governing  Speed 
and  Recovery  from  Fatigue.  New  York: 
McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  1927. 
104  p  .82.50. 
HousBK,  J.  David.  What  the  Employer 
Thinks.  Cambridge,  Mass.:  Harvard 
University  Press,  1927.    235  p.    $2.50. 

Huntington,  Ellsworth.  The  Human 
Habitat.  New  York:  Van  Nostrand  & 
Company,  1927.    293  p.    $3.00. 

Johnston,  James  C.  Biography:  The 
Literature  of  Personality.  New  York: 
The  Century  Company,  1927.  337  p. 
$2.50. 

Jordan,  David  Starr.  The  Higher  Fool- 
ishness. Indianapolis,  Ind:  Bobbs  Mer- 
rill Company,  1927.    225  p.    $2.50. 

Kbllet,  Truman  Lee.  Interpretation  of 
Educational  Measurements.  Yonkers,  N. 
Y.,  The  World  Book  Company,  1927. 
376  p.    $2.20. 

Kwalwasser,  Jacob.  Tests  and  Measure- 
ments in  Music.  Boston:  C.  C.  Birchard, 
1927.     159  p.    $2.00. 

Lincoln,  Edward  Andrews.  Sex  Differ- 
ences in  the  Growth  of  American  School 
Children.  Baltimore:  Warwick  &  York, 
1927.    201  p.    $2.20. 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver  Joseph.  Science  and 
Human  Progress.  New  York:  George 
H.  Doran  Company,  1926.    243  p.    $2.00. 

LuDwiG,  Emil.  Genius  and  Character. 
New  York:  Harcourt,  Brace  &  Company, 
1927.    346  p.    $3.50. 

McDouGALL,  William.  Character  and  the 
Conduct  of  Life.  New  York:  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons,  1927.     410  p.    $5.00. 

McElroy,  Robert  McNutt.  Economic 
History  of  the  United  States,  Presented  in 
Outline.  New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  1927.    86  p.    $1.25. 

Mbtcalf,  Henry  Clayton.  The  Psycho- 
logical Foundations  of  Management. 
Chicago:  A.  W.  Shaw,  1927.    316  p.   $6.00. 

Mitchell,  Mrs.  Wesley  Clair.  Business 
Cycles;  The  Problem  and  Its  Setting. 
New  York:  National  Bureau  of  Economic 
Research,  1927.     511  p.    $6.50. 

Myers,    George   Edmund.    The   Problem 


of     Vocational     Guidance.    New     York: 
Macmillan  Company,  1927.    318  p.    $1.60. 

National  Industrial  Conference  Board. 
Industrial  Group  Insurance.  New  York: 
Author,  1927.    44  p.     apply. 

National  Industrial  Conference  Board. 
Night  Work-  in  Industry.  New  York: 
Author,  1927.     54  p.    apply. 

National  Industrial  Conference  Board. 
The  Workmen's  Compensation  Problem 
in  New  York  State.  New  York:  Author, 
1927.    395  p. 

Odell,  Charles  W.  Are  College  Students 
A  Select  Group?  Urbana,  111:  University 
of  Illinois,  1927.     45  p.    25)f. 

Odum,  Howard  Washington.  Man's 
Quest  for  Social  Guidance.  New  York: 
Henry  Holt  Company,  1927.   664  p.  $4.50. 

Ogburn,  William  Fielding,  and  Golden- 
weiser,  Alex.^nder.  The  Social  Sci- 
ences, and  Their  Interrelations.  Boston: 
Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1927.  514  p. 
$3.50. 

Ormsbee,  Hazel  Grant.  The  Young  Em- 
ployed Girl.  New  York:  Womans  Press, 
1927.     138  p.    $1.00. 

Osborn,  Henry  Fairfield.  Creative  Edu- 
cation in  School,  College,  University,  and 
Museum.  New  York:  Charles  Scribners 
Sons,  1927.     374  p.     $2.50. 

Overstreet,  Harry  Allen.  About  Our- 
selves; Psychology  for  Normal  People. 
New  York:  W.  W.  Norton,  1927.  300  p. 
$3.00. 

Packard,  Laurence  Bradford.  The  Com- 
mercial Revolution,  1400-1776.  New  York: 
Henry  Holt  &  Company,  1927.  112  p. 
85f5. 

Panunzio,  Constantine  Maria.  Immi- 
gration Crossroads.  New  York:  Macmil- 
lan Company,  1927.    315  p.    $2.50. 

Pl.\tt,  Rutherford  Hayes,  Jr.,  and 
Franham,  Rebecca  T.  The  Book  of  Op- 
portunities. New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  1927.    489  p.    $3.00. 

Policyholders  Service  Bureau.  Better 
Business  Through  Research  in  New  Eng- 
land Industry.  New  York:  Metropolitan 
Life  Insurance  Company.  29  p.  apply. 
Pontius,  John  W.  The  Educational  Func- 
tion of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  New  York:  As- 
sociation Press,  1927.    23  p.    apply. 


Book  Reviews 


401 


Randolph,  Vance.  The  A  B  C  of  Psychol- 
ogy. New  York:  Vanguard  Press,  1927. 
142  p.    50i. 

Richards,  Charles  Russell.  Industrial 
Art  and  the  Museum.  New  York:  Mac- 
millan  Company,  1927.     108  p.     $1.50. 

RoBACK,  Dr.  Abraham  Aaron.  A  Bibli- 
ography of  Character  and  Personality. 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts:  Sci-Art  Pub- 
lishers, Harvard  Sq.,  1927.    340  p.    $6.00. 

RuKEYSER,  Merryle  STANLEY.  Financial 
Advice  to  a  Young  Man.  New  York: 
Simon  &  Schuster,  1927.    428  p.    $3.00. 

Sanborn,  R.\lph.  Business  Life  Insurance 
New  York:  F.  S.  Crofts,  1927.  268  p. 
$3.00. 

Schlatter,  Charles  F.  Elementary  Cost 
Accounting.  New  York:  John  Wiley  & 
Sons,  1927.    321  p.    $3.75. 

SCHRUMPF-PIERRON,      PlERRE,      M.D.      To- 

bacco  and  Psychical  Efficiency.  New 
York:  P.  B.  Hoeber,  1927.    147  p.    $1.85. 

Seashore,  Carl  Emil.  Learning  and  Liv- 
ing in  College.  Iowa  City,  Iowa,  Univer- 
sity of  Iowa,  1927.     124  p.     Apply. 

Sharp,  William  Barnard,  M.D.  The 
Foundation  of  Health.  Philadelphia:  Lea 
&  Febiger,  1927.    288  p.    $2.50. 

Skinner,  Harley  Clay.  Psychology  for 
the  Average  Man.  Boston:  Richard  G. 
Badger,  1927.     119  p.    $2.00. 

Smallwood,  W.  M.  Man — the  Animal. 
New  York:  Macmillan  Company,  1927, 
1922.    249  p.    $2.50. 

Stevenson,  John  Alford.  Education  and 
Philanthropy.  New  York:  Appleton  & 
Company,  1927.    204  p.    $2.50. 

Storck,  John.  Man  and  Civilization.  New 
York:  Harcourt,  Brace  &  Company. 
1925,  1927.    449  p.    $2.75. 

Sullivan,  Ellen  B.  Attitude  in  Relation 
to  Learning.  Princeton,  N.  J.:  Psycho- 
logical Review  Company,  1927.  149  p. 
apply. 

Sumner,  William  Graham,  and  others. 
The  Science  of  Society.  New  Haven, 
Connecticut:  Yale  University  Press,  1927. 
1353  p.    $8.00. 

Swisher,  Walter  Samuel.    Psychology  for 


the  Music  Teacher.  Boston:  Oliver  Dit- 
son  Company,  1927.    78  p.     60>f. 

Tallman,  Russell  Warrick.  A  Critical 
Analysis  of  Student  Persistence  at  the  State 
University  of  Iowa.  Iowa  City,  Iowa: 
University  of  Iowa,  1927.     64  p.    75jf. 

Thompson,  John  Giffen.  Urbanization. 
New  York:  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Company, 
1927.    696  p.    $6.00. 

Thompson,  Laura  Amelia.  Workers'  Lei- 
sure. Washington,  D.  C:  Government 
Printing  Office;  Superintendent  of  Docu- 
ments, 1927.     10  p. 

ToNKS,  Prof.  Helen  H.  Psychological 
Foundations  of  Teaching.  New  York. 
Globe  Book  Company,  1927.  224  p.   $1.67. 

Torre Y,  David  Clarence.  The  Normal 
Person;  the  Psychology  of  Self-realization. 
Jaffrey,  N.  H. :  Author,  94  p.    $1.00. 

Tugwell,  Rexford  Guy.  Industry's  Com- 
ing of  Age.  New  York:  Harcourt,  Brace 
&  Company,  1927.    283  p.    $2.00. 

LTnion-Management  Cooperation.  A  Se- 
lected Bibliography.  Washington,  D.  C, 
Government  Printing  Office;  Superintend- 
ent of  Documents,  1927. 

U.  S.  Civil  Service  Commission.  General 
Information  regarding  the  United  States 
Civil  Service.  Washington,  D.  C,  Gov- 
ernment Printing  Office;  Superintend- 
ent of  Documents,  1927.     30  p.     gratis. 

U.  S.  Women's  Bureau.  Short  Talks  about 
Working  Women.  Washington,  D.  C: 
Government  Printing  Office;  Superin- 
tendent of  Documents,  1927.    29  p.    10^. 

Walters,  Frederic  Charles.  A  Statisti- 
cal Study  of  Certain  Aspects  of  the  Time 
Factor  in  Intelligence.  New  York: 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 
1927.    90  p.    $1.50. 

Waterhouse,  Eric  S.,  D.D.  An  A  B  C  of 
Psychology  for  Religious  Education.  New 
York,  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  1927. 
121  p.    $1.00. 

WiESER,  Friedrich  VON.  Social  Eco- 
nomics. New  York:  Greenberg,  Pub- 
lisher, 1927,      492  p.    $5.00. 

Young,  Allyn  Abbott.  Economic  Prob- 
lems New  and  Old.  Boston:  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company,  1927.    301  p.    $3.50. 


News  Notes 


PERSONNEL  RESEARCH  FEDERATION 

Activities  of  Member  Organizations 

Harvard   University,    Bureau  of  Vocational 
Guidance 

During  the  year  1926-1927  three  Doctor's 
theses  previously  reported  upon  have  been 
published,  as  follows: 

Doermann,  Henry  J.     The  Orientation  of 

College  Freshmen. 
Blake,  Mabelle  B.     Guidance  for  College 

Women. 
Maverick,     Lewis     A.     The    Vocational 

Guidance  of  College  Students. 

A  Doctor's  thesis,  by  Otto  F.  Mathiason, 
now  Associate  Professor  of  Education, 
Antioch  College,  on  guidance  of  students  in 
graduate  schools  of  education,  is  unpub- 
lished as  yet. 

Mr.  Frederick  J.  Allen,  who  died  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1927,  collected  a  large  number  of 
significant  articles  on  vocational  guidance 
and  these  are  being  published  in  two 
volumes  by  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company, 
to  be  issued  about  December  first.  The 
titles  are  "The  Principles  and  Problems  of 
Vocational  Guidance"  and  "The  Practice 
of  Vocational  Guidance." 

An  article  by  the  Director  of  the  Bureau 
on  the  "Causes  of  Discharge"  was  pub- 
lished in  the  October  number  of  the  Person- 
nel Journal.  The  Director  is  now  making 
a  statistical  study  of  the  examinations  given 
during  the  first  six  years  of  the  Graduate 
School  of  Education. 

A  seminary  class  in  vocational  guidance 
has  collected  100  or  more  cases  under  the 
title  "Administrative  Problems  in  Educa- 
tional and  Vocational  Guidance."  These, 
however,  are  not  ready  for  publication. 

A  number  of  students  are  now  working  on 
Doctor's  theses:  Mr.  Harold  B.  Foye  on  a 
follow-up  study  of  high  school  graduates 


in  Boston;  Mr.  R.  E.  CunlifTe  of  the  College 
of  the  Cit}'^  of  Detroit,  on  occupational 
information  for  college  students;  and  Miss 
Helen  D.  Bragdon,  formerly  Assistant  to 
the  Dean  of  Mount  Holyoke  College,  on 
principles  of  counseling  as  an  aid  in  student 
adjustment.  Miss  Mildred  E.  Lincoln  of 
Rochester  is  pursuing  her  thesis  on  pro- 
posals for  measuring  the  effectiveness  of 
vocational  guidance.  She  has  recently  is- 
sued a  manual  on  the  teaching  of  occupa- 
tions to  high  school  classes. 

American  Federation  of  Labor 

The  Federation  has  been  making  some 
special  studies  on  wages  such  as  Wages  in 
the  Automobile  Industry  and  in  the  Steel 
Industry.  It  is  now  having  a  study  made 
of  the  Census  of  Manufacturers  of  1925  in 
order  to  find  labor's  share.  These  studies 
are  published  in  the  American  Federationist 
beginning  with  the  October  number.  It  is 
also  making  a  study  of  Unemployment 
Among  Union  Workers,  sending  out  report 
blanks  each  month  to  the  more  important 
industrial  centers  and  compiling  the  results. 
As  yet  the  data  are  not  being  published. 
However,  it  will  begin  publishing  in  the 
October  issue  of  the  Aynerican  Federationist 
an  index  to  labor's  share  computed  with 
reference  to  production  within  industry  as 
well  as  with  reference  to  prices  as  concerned 
with  the  expenditure  of  wages. 

Dennison  Manufacturing  Company 

Job  Analysis  and  Classification,  An 
analysis  and  classification  of  about  175 
clerical  jobs  has  been  made.  This  involved 
writing  statements  of  job  duties  and  analyz- 
ing these  into  eight  job  requirements  which 
are  common,  in  varjdng  degrees,  to  almost 
all  clerical  jobs.  By  a  system  of  weighted 
ratings  of  these  requirements,  values  were 


402 


News  Notes 


403 


secured  which  were  used  as  guides  in  pre- 
paring a  seven-level  classification.  The 
statistical  values  thus  secured  were  not 
accepted  as  the  final  absolute  value  of  the 
job,  but  merely  used  as  guides  to  supple- 
ment and  check  a  less  analytical  judgment. 

Tests.  In  addition  to  routine  testing  of 
applicants  for  clerical  and  certain  mechani- 
cal jobs,  experiments  have  been  or  are  being 
conducted  with  special  clerical  groups,  i.e., 
dictaphone  operators  and  billing  machine 
operators  and  with  groups  of  factory  girls 
engaged  upon  semi-skilled  hand  work.  On 
this  latter  work,  effort  is  being  made  to 
measure  not  only  the  motor  skills  related  to 
this  work,  but  certain  more  general  charac- 
teristics which  cannot  be  named  except  in 
terms  of  the  test  operation,  but  which  are 
probably  related  to  such  things  as  output  of 
energy,  interest  in  quality,  natural  evenness 
of  repetitive  motor  acts,  etc. 

Psychology  of  Production  Paymerit.  This 
study  is  in  progress.  At  present  it  is  only 
in  the  form  of  a  survey  and  analysis,  from 
the  psychological  or  personnel  point  of  view, 
of  various  factors  in  taking  time  studies  and 
setting,  installing  and  maintaining  piece 
rates. 

Accident  Prevention.  About  two  years 
ago  this  work  was  transferred  to  the  Person- 
nel Division.  Since  this  time  there  has 
been  a  marked  reduction  in  time  lost  on 
account  of  accidents.  While  some  of  this 
has  been  due  to  a  special  effort  to  get  the 
injured  employee  back  on  the  job,  most  of 
it  has  been  due  to  building  up  attitudes  and 
habits  of  safety  in  the  individual  foreman 
and  employee.  A  copy  has  been  con- 
structed of  the  dotting  test  apparatus  which 
the  industrial  Fatigue  Research  Board  of 
Great  Britain  found  useful  in  helping  to 
differentiate  people  with  high  accident 
liability  from  those  with  low  accident 
liability.  Experiments  with  this  apparatus 
are  planned  for  the  coming  year. 

Retainers  on  Piece  Work.  As  an  incen- 
tive for  more  rapid  learning  and  an  encour- 
agement for  beginners  on  piece  work, 
experiments  are  being  made  with  a  system 
of  retainers.  This  provides  for  a  schedule 
of  bonuses  for  beginners,  graded  according 
to  the  difficulty  of  learning  the  operation 
and  decreasing  at  a  fixed  rate  from  day  to 


day.  It  has  been  very  effective,  so  far,  in 
giving  the  desired  results.  It  provides  a 
piece  work  incentive  for  beginners  without 
the  discouragement  which  usually  accom- 
panies the  training  period  on  a  piece  work 
job. 

Absenteeism  and  Physical  Condition. 
The  plant  physician  has  made  a  study  of 
a  group  of  people  with  excellent  attendance 
records  and  another  group  with  very  poor 
attendance  records.  In  correlating  these 
records  with  the  factors  brought  out  in  the 
physical  examination,  he  has  found  evidence 
that  conditions  of  excessive  over-weight 
and  under-weight  are  significantly  related 
to  attendance.  No  other  significant  factor 
was  found.  Other  groups  are  being  studied 
in  this  way. 

Executive  Ratings.  Some  thirty  fore- 
men's and  chief  clerk's  jobs  have  been 
analyzed  and  rated.  The  results  obtained, 
although  not  definitive,  have  been  helpful 
in  determining  qualifications  for  partner- 
ship. 

Stanford  University 

Three  phases  of  personnel  work  at  Stan- 
ford University  are  reported  upon  this  year. 
The  dean  of  women,  Mary  Yost,  reports  how 
personal  relationship  is  maintained  with 
each  woman  student  in  the  University. 
The  assistant  registrar,  K.  M.  Cowdery, 
outlines  the  program  of  personnel  research 
which  is  conducted  in  that  office.  And 
Professor  Edward  K.  Strong,  Jr.  reports 
progress  in  developing  the  vocational  in- 
terest test. 

Personnel  Work  in  the   Dean   of   Women's 
Office 

On  account  of  the  relatively  small  num- 
ber of  women  at  Stanford,  five  hundred 
includes  both  graduate  and  undergraduate 
women,  and  of  the  fact  that  Stanford  is 
largely  a  residence  university,  it  is  possible 
to  carry  on  the  work  of  a  personnel  depart- 
ment with  little  of  the  usual  machinery  of 
such  a  department.  The  work  centers  in 
the  dean  of  women's  office  and  in  the  resi- 
dence hall  which  has  a  social  director  re- 
sponsible to  the  dean.  On  account  of  the 
careful  selection  of  the  women  which  has  to 


404 


News  Notes 


be  made   since   Stanford  has   five   or   six 
applicants  for  every  place  open  to  them, 
much  is  known  about  the  new  student  when 
she  comes  to  register.    This  information  is 
used  by  the  Social  Director  of  the  Hall  in 
assigning   rooms   and   roommates,    and   in 
assisting  the  student  sponsors  in  helping  the 
new  women  to  get  adjusted.     These  student 
sponsors,  selected  by  the  women  as  a  whole 
as    the    most    helpful    and    representative 
women  of  the  campus,  give  their  service  to 
the  University  for  a  quarter,  living  in  the 
residence  hall  where  all  the  new  under- 
graduate women  live  and  cooperating  in 
every  way  with  the  Social  Director  and  the 
Dean.     Through  their  friendly  watchful- 
ness,   cases    of    ill    health,    homesickness, 
discouragement,     mal-adjustment     of     all 
kinds  are  reported  to  the  Director  or  the 
Dean  before  they  become  serious.    Every 
effort  is  made  by  the  dean  to  know  all  of  the 
undergraduates.     She  gives  to  each  lower 
division  woman,  three  times  a  year,  a  con- 
ference to  talk  over  with  her  her  program  for 
the   succeeding   quarter.     She   sees   all   of 
the  women  doing  unsatisfactory  work  or 
work  genuinely   below  their   ability,    and 
tries  to  study  with  them  the  reasons  for  the 
difficulty.     She  writes  to  or  sees  all  of  the 
excellent  students,  in  order  that  they,  too, 
may  feel  the  personal  interest  in  their  work. 
On  account  of  these  contacts,  the  students 
come  naturally  to  the  office  with  all  kinds 
of  questions,  some  trivial  and  unimportant, 
others  vital  to  their  welfare.     As  far  as 
possible,  once  a  week,  the  dean  has  dinner 
in  the  hall  with  the  new  women  and  stays 
afterwards  to  meet  and  talk  with  them. 
She  works  with  the  various  sororities  also; 
she  sees,  each  quarter,  the  president,  talks 
over  with  her  the  problems  of  her  house,  and 
is  ready  to  help  the  group  or  any  individual 
in  it.     Work  with  the  women's   organiza- 
tions on  the  campus,  especially  with  the 
Associated  Women  Students  and  with  the 
Christian  Association  gives  further  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  the  women  and  studying 
their  needs. 

There  is  close  cooperation  between  the 
Medical  Adviser  and  the  Dean  of  Women 
in  regard  to  the  health  of  the  student. 
Every  day  reports  come  to  the  dean's  office 
from  the  hospital  in   Palo  Alto  and  the 


residences  as  to  any  case  of  illness  and  these 
are  reported  to  the  Medical  Adviser.  Three 
times  a  year  the  Medical  Adviser  sees  every 
woman  registered  in  the  University  and  any 
below  par  return  for  consultation  and  super- 
vision. A  diet  table  is  established  in  the 
Hall  to  which  the  doctor  may  assign  resi- 
dents of  the  Hall  who  need  special  feeding. 
Cases  of  mental  ill  health  are  usually  de- 
tected in  the  very  early  stages. 

Personnel  Research  Activities  in  the  Regis- 
trar's Office 

The  program  of  personnel  research,  as 
conducted  in  connection  with  the  office  of 
the  Registrar  for  the  school  year  1926-27, 
has  included  the  administration  of  the  col- 
lege aptitude  test  program  in  connection 
with  the  selection  of  students  admitted 
for  each  year.  During  the  spring  months 
of  1927  approximately  1800  Thorndike 
examinations  were  given  to  high  school 
seniors  and  others  in  forty  test-centers  in 
the  states  of  California,  Washington, 
Oregon,  Arizona  and  Utah.  Qualified 
examiners  gave  these  examinations  which 
were  gathered,  scored  and  recorded  in  the 
office  of  the  Registrar  at  Stanford. 

A  continuance  of  the  study  of  results  from 
previous  examinations  has  made  possible 
evaluations  of  factors  used  by  our  Admis- 
sion Committee  in  their  selection  of  com- 
petitors for  entrance.  Not  only  have  the 
relations  existing  between  test  score  and 
later  college  scholarship  been  calculated, 
but  the  relative  efficiencies  in  predicting 
scholarship,  of  the  test  score,  of  previous 
scholarship  in  high  school,  (in  other  colleges 
in  the  case  of  transfer  students),  and  of 
ratings  based  on  personal  recommendations 
and  character-trait  reports  have  been 
estimated.  Tentative  statements  of  results 
have  been  outlined  in  part  in  the  Faculty 
Bulletin  issued  by  this  office. 

A  major  study  has  been  made  by  Dr. 
Walter  C.  Eells,  as  assistant  in  this  division, 
of  the  comparative  scholarship  of  various 
groups  of  Upper  Division  students.  The 
relative  success  of  transfers  after  two  years 
of  work  in  other  four-year  colleges,  gradu- 
ates of  junior  colleges,  and  of  students  who 
have  spent  their  first  two  years  at  Stanford 


News  Notes 


405 


have  been  compared.  This  study  also  was 
reported  in  the  Faculty  Bulletin,  and  in 
revised  form  has  appeared  as  a  chapter  in  a 
symposium  on  the  Junior  College,  edited  by 
William  M.  Proctor,  and  published  by  the 
Stanford  University  Press.  Additional 
studies  have  included  analyses  of  enroll- 
ment figures  of  divisions,  schools  and  de- 
partments within  the  University,  over  a 
period  of  years  represented  by  the  history 
of  Stanford.  These  figures  have  been  com- 
piled in  connection  with  the  relative  growth 
of  Graduate  and  Upper  Divisions  and  the 
general  problem  of  the  demand  for  admis- 
sion to  specialized  schools  of  instruction. 

Data  have  been  gathered  upon  the  sur- 
vival of  students  admitted  under  the  chang- 
ing conditions  of  demand  for  admission  for 
the  limited  number  of  places  available  in 
the  University.  Larger  proportions  of 
survival  have  been  found  to  accompany  the 
raising  of  standards  which  has  resulted  from 
a  higher  degree  of  selection  of  admitted 
students. 

As  a  cooperative  study,  the  relation  be- 
tween distribution  of  grades  in  individual 
courses  and  the  ability  of  students  as 
represented  by  aptitude  test  score  was 
worked  out  by  Professor  Eells.  Individual 
projects  of  testing  for  special  abilities  and 
sectioning  of  students  in  departments  have 
been  shared  by  the  personnel  research  divi- 
sion with  individual  members  of  various 
academic  departments.  The  largest  proj- 
ect has  been  the  use  of  a  series  of  seven 
tests  with  new  students  entering  the  School 
of  Engineering  in  their  third  year  of  college 
work .  Final  results  are  not  as  yet  available 
for  publication. 

Testing  service  has  been  provided  to  four 
California  high  schools  and  junior  colleges 
who  desired  aptitude  test  results  in  con- 
nection with  their  recommendations  of 
students  for  continued  college  and  uni- 
versity work.  Continuous  records  have 
been  organized  for  use  in  connection  with 
the  evaluation  of  the  work  of  preparatory 
and  other  schools  in  terms  of  the  scholarship 
success  at  Stanford  of  the  students  who 
come  from  these  schools  either  by  gradua- 
tion and  recommendation  or  by  transfer. 
To  make  possible  the  distribution  of  sum- 


marized results  from  these  studies  among 
the  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  University 
and  to  others,  the  second  year  of  the  Faculty 
Bulletin  has  included  six  numbers. 

The  Vocational  Interest  Test 

Extensive  research  during  the  last  four 
years  by  Cowdery  and  Strong  has  shown 
that  men  known  to  be  successful  in  a  par- 
ticular occupation  can  be  assigned  to  their 
respective  occupations  by  the  vocational 
interest  test  with  a  remarkable  degree  of 
accuracy.  Apparently  each  occupational 
group  has  a  characteristic  set  of  interests 
which  differentiate  the  group  from  other 
groups.  The  evidence  at  hand  indicates 
that  these  interests  are  fairly  stable  from 
freshman  days  on  and  that  they  are  little 
influenced  by  technical  training  and  prac- 
tical experience.  There  is  need  of  investi- 
gating other  occupational  groups  than  the 
fifteen  so  far  studied,  which  are  largely  of 
the  professional  type.  There  is  need  also 
of  studying  unsuccessful  men  as  well  as 
those  known  to  be  successful.  And  there  is 
still  greater  need  of  following  the  careers 
of  men  for  a  considerable  period  of  time  in 
order  to  determine  the  permanency  of  their 
interests,  and,  in  this  way,  the  prophetic 
significance  of  the  interest  test  scores. 

Grants  have  been  received  from  the  Social 
Science  Research  Fund  of  Stanford  Uni- 
versity, the  American  Council  on  Education, 
and  the  Engineering  Foundation  for  con- 
tinuance of  this  research.  A  revised  blank 
is  being  standardized  for  twenty  different 
occupations,  using  the  records  of  over  3,000 
men  known  to  be  successful  in  their  work, 
and  the  records  of  900  college  seniors. 
Scales  and  norms  for  the  following  occupa- 
tions will  be  developed  first:  engineering, 
law,  ministry,  accounting,  psychology,  life 
insurance,  and  architecture.  An  attempt 
will  be  made  to  determine  the  possibility 
of  differentiating  civil,  electrical,  mechani- 
cal and  mining  engineers  on  the  basis  of 
interests.  Since  success  can  be  determined 
in  a  shorter  period  of  time  in  selling  than 
most  other  occupations,  an  extensive  study 
will  be  made  as  to  the  possibilities  of  proph- 
esying degrees  of  success  in  selling  life 
insurance. 


406 


News  Notes 


FEBRUARY  CONFERENCE  IN  BOSTON 

Readers  of  the  Personnel  Journal  are 
reminded  of  the  joint  meeting  of  the 
National  Association  of  Appointment  secre- 
taries, the  National  Committee  of  Bureaus 
of  Occupations,  and  the  Personnel  Research 
Federation,  at  Boston,  on  February  27th, 
28th,  and  29th.  Headquarters  will  be  at 
Boston  University,  27  Garrison  Street, 
Room  320.  The  relationships  of  college 
and  industry  will  be  the  general  topic  of 
the  conference.  Arrangements  will  be 
made  for  conducted  visits  to  college  bureaus, 
schools,  business  organizations,  and  mental 
hj-giene  clinics  in  and  about  Boston. 

NATIONAL    RESEARCH    SCHOOL    IS    ENDOWED 

Robert  Somers  Brookings,  merchant- 
philanthropist  of  St.  Louis,  has  established 
a  new  national  research  organization  here 
to  be  known  as  the  Brookings  Institution. 
'An  endowment  of  several  million  dollars 
is  already  assured,"  according  to  an  an- 
nouncement of  the  project  today. 

The  Trustees  are: 

Director  General  Leo  S.  Rowe  of  the 
Pan-American  Union,  Frederic  A.  Delano, 
President  Emeritus  Arthur  T.  Hadley  of 
Yale,  President  John  C.  Merriam  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution,  Jerome  D.  Greene  of 
Lee,  Higginson  &  Co.,  New  York;  President 
W.  R.  Cole  of  the  Louisville  and  Nashville 
Railroad,  President  Frank  J.  Goodnow  of 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  Samuel  Mather, 
John  Barton  Payne,  George  Eastman, 
Vernon  Kellogg,  President  Ernest  A. 
Hopkins  of  Dartmouth  College,  Raymond 
B.  Fosdick  of  New  York,  Bolton  Smith  of 
Memphis,  Paul  M.  Warburg  of  New  York, 
David  F.  Houston  and  Dr.  Harold  G. 
Moulton,  who  has  been  Director  of  the 
Institute  of  Economics  and  is  to  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  new  institution. 

Mr.  Brookings  will  be  Chairman  of  the 
trustees,  Dr.  Rowe,  Vice  Chairman,  and 
Mr.  Delano,  Treasurer.  Combined  in  the 
institution  are  the  Institute  of  Economics, 
the  Institute  for  Government  Research  and 
the  Robert  Brookings  Graduate  School  of 
Economics  and  Government,  which  have 
existed  here  several  j'ears. 


"The  new  institution,"  its  announce" 
ment  said,  "which  is  the  amalgamation 
of  the  three  existing  agencies,  is  designed  to 
cover  eventually  the  whole  range  of  human- 
istic or  social  sciences,  providing  facilities 
for  research  and  for  advanced  research 
training  in  such  subjects  as  economics, 
government  administration,  political  rela- 
tions, history,  law  and  social  organization." 
The  announcement  added  that  the  plan 
is  unique  and  expected  "not  only  to  pro- 
mote a  greater  realism  in  economic,  social 
and  political  thought,  but  also  to  render 
important  service  in  connection  with  public 
affairs." 

While  no  degrees  will  be  given,  advanced 
courses  will  be  provided  "for  selected 
young  scholars  to  spend  from  one  to  three 
j^ears  in  a  well-equipped  research  organiza- 
tion,"  supplemental  to  graduate  school 
courses. 

Mr.  Brookings  is  President  of  the  Cor- 
poration of  Washington  University,  St. 
Louis,  which  he  was  mainly  instrumental 
in  refounding  and  rebuilding  on  an  exten- 
sive scale,  equipping  it  with  a  modern 
medical  school  and  other  buildings.  He  is 
a  trustee  of  the  Carnegie  Institution  and 
Carnegie  Peace  Foundation,  and  a  regent 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  He  was 
prime  mover  in  the  founding  of  the  three 
organizations  to  be  embraced  by  the  new 
institution. 

— New  York  World. 

FELLOWSHIPS  IN  CHILD  DEVELOPMENT 

The  National  Research  Council  an- 
nounces a  series  of  fellowships  and  scholar- 
ships for  stud}'  and  research  in  child  develop- 
ment, made  available  by  a  grant  from  the 
Laura  Spelman  Rockefeller  Memorial. 

The  National  Scholarships  in  Child 
Development  aim  to  prepare  qualified 
workers  who  will  increase  scientific  knowl- 
edge of  the  child  along  various  lines  and 
bring  this  knowledge  to  parents  and  others 
concerned  with  child  life.  The  appoint- 
ments lead  to  the  following  types  of  service: 
(1)  Research  in  child  development,  (2) 
resident  instruction  in  child  development 
and  welfare  in  school,  college,  and  univer- 


News  Notes 


407 


sity,  (3)  child  welfare  service  in  clinics, 
institutions,  social  service,  health  organiza- 
tions, schools,  etc.,  (4)  parent  education,  in 
field  organization,  study-group  leadership, 
extension  programs,  and  resident  instruc- 
tion in  college  or  university.  The  basic 
stipend  is  $1000  for  the  college  year,  plus 
tuition  and  travelling  expenses  to  and  from 
the  college. 

The  National  Fellowships  for  Research 
in  Child  Development  are  administered 
similarly  to  the  above,  but  differ  signifi- 
cantly therefrom  in:  (1)  Their  primary 
purpose,  which  is  to  promote  fundamental 
research  in  sciences  basic  to  child  develop- 
ment, (2)  their  requirement  that  candidates 
(who  may  be  either  men  or  women)  must 
possess  the  doctor's  degree  in  the  basic 
sciences  or  in  medicine,  and  must  have 
demonstrated  ability  in  research,  (3)  the 
greater  latitude  in  choice  of  place  of  work, 
the  main  consideration  in  assignment  being 
the  specific  facilities  of  the  proposed  labora- 
tory for  the  research  contemplated,  and  (4) 
the  stipend,  which  ranges  from  S2000  up- 
ward, varying  with  the  requirements  of 
individual  cases. 

Further  information  concerning  these 
fellowships  will  be  provided  on  request  to 
the  Executive  Secretary,  Committee  on 
Child  Development,  National  Research 
Council,  Washington,  D.  C. 


THE  JOURNAL  OF  GENERAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

The  first  number  of  this  new  scientific 
journal,  published  by  the  Clark  University 
Press,  made  its  appearance  in  January, 
1928.  The  journal  will  be  a  quarterly,  and 
will  be  published  in  January,  April,  July, 
and  October.  It  will  consist  of  six  to  seven 
hundred  pages  per  annum.  The  subscrip- 
tion rate  is  S7.00,  individual  numbers, 
S2.00. 

FORTHCOMING   MEETINGS 

The  National  Vocational  Guidance  Asso- 
ciation will  hold  a  meeting  in  Boston, 
February  23rd,  24th,  and  25th.  Head- 
quarters will  be  at  the  Statler  Hotel.  The 
general  topic  will  be  'Harnessing  Guidance 
and  Personnel  for  Service  in  1928." 

The  first  triennial  Congress  of  the  Inter- 
national Association  for  the  Study  and  Im- 
provement of  Human  Relations  and  Con- 
ditions in  Industry  (T.  R.  I.)  will  be  held 
during  the  summer  of  1928  at  Girton  College, 
Cambridge,  England,  from  June  28th  to 
July  3rd.  The  subject  of  the  Congress  will 
be  "The  Fundamental  Relationships  be- 
tween all  Sections  of  the  Industrial  Com- 
munity." The  Congress  will  be  open  to 
members  and  to  persons  introduced  by 
members.  For  further  information  address 
the  Secretariat  of  the  I.  R.  I.,  Javastraat  66, 
The  Hague,  Holland. 


Current  Periodicals 

Prepared  by  Linda  H.  Morley,  Industrial  Relations  Counselors,  Inc. 


ABSENTEEISM 

Graham,  Aimee,  Supervisor  of  Women,  Eli 
Lillj'-  and  Company.  Methods  of  elimi- 
nating tardiness.  Personnel,  Vol.  4,  p. 
46-47.    November,  1927. 

Brief  outline  of  the  policy  and  practice 
of  Eli  Lilly  and  Company.  Attendance 
bonus  has  been  in  effect  since  Maj-,  1917. 


COMPANY  TOWNS 

Welfare  work  in  company  towns.  Monthly 
Labor  Review,  Vol.  25,  p.  314-321. 
August,  1927. 

Based  on  material  collected  in  connec- 
tion with  a  recent  study  of  employers' 
personnel  activities  made  by  the  Labor 
Department. 


ARBITRATION 

Warne,  C.  E.,  AND  G ADDIS,  M.  E.  Elcvcn 
years  of  co7npulsory  invesiigatiori  of  indus- 
trial disputes  in  Colorado.  Journal  of 
Political  Economy,  Vol.  35,  p.  657-683. 
October,  1927. 

Discusses  the  state  industrial  arbitra- 
tion plan. 

BALTIMORE   &   OHIO   RAILWAY  COMPANY 

GiLBRETH,  Lillian  M.  New  phase  of 
psychology.  Industrial  Psychology,  Vol. 
2,  p.  613-614.     December,  1927. 

The  B  &  O  Centenary  Exhibit  and 
Pageant. 

BONUS   SYSTEM 

Parkhtjrst,  Frederick  A.,  Organizing 
Engineer.  Applied  methods  of  manufac- 
turing control.  Manufacturing  Indus- 
tries, Vol.  14,  p.  171-174;  259-264;  377- 
380;  429-434.  Sept.;  Oct.;  Nov.  1927; 
Dec.  1927. 

Parkhurst  differential  bonus  plan. 

Raudebaugh,  K.  S.,  cost  manager,  Lincoln 
Electric  Co.  Budget  and  foreman's  bonus 
cut  costs.  Manufacturing  industries. 
Vol.  14,  p.  300-301.     October,  1927. 

"Although  a  foreman  sometimes  draws 
over  S50.00  a  month  in  bonuses,  this  takes 
the  place  of  a  salary  increase." 


ECONOMICS 

CowDRiCK,  Edward  S.  New  Economic 
gospel  of  consumption,  revolutionary 
changes  brought  about  by  our  highly  geared 
production  machine.  Industrial  manage- 
ment. Vol.  74,  p.  209-211.  October,  1927. 
Brief  outline  of  the  economic  changes 
which  have  taken  place  during  one 
generation. 

EDUCATION 

Donald,  W.  J.,  Managing  Director,  Ameri- 
can Management  Association.  What  col- 
lege man  is  wanted?  Educational  Record, 
Vol.  8,  p.  277-294.    October,  1927. 

Discusses    the    requirements    business 
makes  of  the  college  graduate. 

Hopkins,  L.  B.  Personnel  procedure  in 
education,  observations  and  conclusions 
resulting  from  visits  to  fourteen  institu- 
tions of  higher  learning.  Educational 
record  supplement,  no.  3,  October,  1926. 
96  p. 

McClelland,  Professor  W.  W.,  M.A., 
B.Sc,  B.Ed.,  Professor  of  Education 
in  St.  Andrews  University  and  Director 
of  Studies,  St.  Andrews  and  Dundee 
Training  Centre.  What  education  could 
do  for  industry.  Welfare  Work,  Vol.  8, 
p.  203-206.     November,  1927. 

Paper  read  at  the  .\nnual  General  Meet- 
ing and  Conference  of  the  Institute  of 


408 


Current  Periodicals 


409 


Industrial  Welfare  Workers  at  Edinburgh, 
Scotland. 

New  England  College  Personnel  Ofl&cers. 
Specifications  for  college  personnel  work. 
Educational  Record,  Vol.  8,  p.   310-321. 
October,  1927. 
Outline  of  a  plan. 

Robertson,  David  A.  Personnel  methods 
in  college.  Educational  Record,  Vol.  8, 
p.  310-321.     October,  1927. 

Results  of  a  study  made  by  the  Ameri- 
can Council  on  Education. 

Summer  schools  for  workers.    Law  and  La- 
bor, Vol.  9,  p.  308-309.    November,  1927. 
Work  of  six  summer  schools,  four  labor 
institutes  and  one  chautauqua  described. 

TiLTON,  J.  Warren,  Institute  of  Educa- 
tional Research,  Columbia  University. 
Best  informed  are  the  best  thinkers.  In- 
dustrial Psychology,  Vol.  12,  p.  571-573. 
November,  1927. 

Results  of  tests  designed  to  show  the 
relation  between  knowledge  and  original 
thinking  in  grammar  school  graduates. 

employees'  representation  in 
management 

Bethlehem  Steel  Corporation.  Bethlehem 
Steel  plan.  Information  Service,  Vol.  6, 
p.  2.     October  22,  1927. 

Review  of  employee  representation  plan 
from  1918-1926. 

DiEMER,  Hugo,  Director  of  Industrial 
Courses,  La  Salle  University.  Broad  as- 
pects of  management.  Industrial  Manage- 
ment, Vol.  74,  p.  270-275.  November, 
1927. 

Management  engineering  seeks  to  de- 
velop harmony  and  cooperation. 

EMPLOYMENT   DEPARTMENT 

Robertson,  A.,  C.  J.  Clark,  Ltd.,  Street, 
Somerset.  Employment  department.  Wel- 
fare Work,  Vol.  8,  January-August,  1927. 
1.  Introductory,  January.  2.  Inter- 
view from  the  welfare  worker's  point  of 
view,  February.  3.  Interview  from  the 
psychologist's  point  of  view,  March. 
4.  Introduction  to  the  job,  April.  5. 
Following  up:  Transfers,  May.  6.  Pro- 
motion, June.  7.  Dismissals,  July.  8. 
Records,  August,  p.  138-139. 


executives 

BoGARDUS,  Emory,  S.,  University  of  South- 
ern California.  Leadership  and  social 
distance.  Sociology  and  Social  Research, 
Vol.  12,  p.  173-178.  November-Decem- 
ber, 1927. 

Vertical  and  horizontal  distance  de- 
fined. 

Sawyer,  William  A.,  M.D.,  Medical  Di- 
rector, Eastman  Kodak  Company,  Roch- 
ester, N.  Y.  Health-  a  qualification  for 
leadership.  National  Safety  News,  Vol. 
16,  p.  9-10,  58.    November,  1927. 

This  article  gives  some  valuable  health 
hints  for  the  individual,  also  for  the  com- 
pany interested  in  conserving  the  health 
of  its  executives. 

Tead,  Ordway,  Harper  &  Brothers  and 
New  York  School  of  Social  Work.  Na- 
ture and  uses  of  creative  leadership.  Bul- 
letin of  the  Taylor  Society,  Vol.  12,  p. 
394r406.    June,  1927. 

Considered  from  the  point  of  view  of 
modern  psychology  and  pedagogy. 

WissLER,  Willis,  Instructor,  Ohio  State 
University.  Managers  as  Workers. 
American  Federationist,  Vol.  34,  p.  1462- 
1469.    December,  1927. 

FATIGUE 

Crawley,  S.  L.,  Department  of  Psychology, 
Indiana  University.  Extra  effort  and  ex- 
tra work.  Industrial  Psychology,  Vol. 
12,  p.  553-558.    November,  1927. 

Description  of  an  experiment  in  indus- 
trial fatigue  at  Columbia  University. 

ford  motor  company 

Faurote,  Fay  Leone,  M.  E.  Henry  Ford 
still  on  the  job  with  renewed  vigor.  Indus- 
trial management,  Vol.  74,  p.  193-202. 
October,  1927. 

Not  details  of  the  new  Ford  car,  but  the 
management  and  production  problems 
that  lie  behind  it.  First  of  a  series  of 
articles. 


Dr.  Dublin  says  sickness  costs  $2,000,000,000 
yearly.  Safety,  Vol.  13,  p.  127.  Sep- 
tember-October, 1927. 


410 


Current  Periodicals 


Statement  liy  the  Statistician  of  the 
Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company. 
McKail,  Dr.  D.,  M.D.,  P.H.,  F.R.F.P.S.G. 
How  to  maintain  health  in  industry.  Wel- 
fare Work,  Vol.  8,  p.  207.  November, 
1927. 

Paper  read  at  the  Annual  General  Meet- 
ing and  Conference  of  the  Institute  of 
Industrial  Welfare  Workers  at  Edinburgh, 
Scotland. 
Turner,  J.  A.  Practice  of  preventive  medi- 
cine in  industry.  American  Journal  of 
Public  Health,  Vol.  17,  p.  1125-1129. 
November,  1927. 

Address  before  the  American  Public 
Health  Association,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
October,  21,  1927. 

HOURS   OF   LABOR 

Cameron,  Julia.  Shorter  working  hours; 
a  summary  of  the  experience  of  James  A. 
Hearn  d'  Sons.  Journal  of  Retailing,  p. 
21-23.     October,  1927. 

INCENTIVES 

Smith,  Elliott  Dunlap,  Dennison  Manu- 
facturing Company  and  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. Financial  incentives.  Bulletin 
of  the  Taylor  Society,  Vol.  12,  p.  425-441. 
June,  1927. 

Paper  is  discussed  by  Robert  B.  Wolf, 
Geoffry  C.  Brown,  Robert  T.  Kent,  Mary 
B.  Gilson, 

industrial  relations 

Gardiner,  Glenn  L.  Carrying  home  prob- 
lems on  the  job.  Industrial  Psychology, 
Vol.  12,  p.  559-563.     November,  1927. 

Suggestions  as  to  how  to  help  workers 
under  these  conditions. 
Gardiner,  Glenn  L.,  N.  Y.  How  home- 
habits  influence  work-habits.  Industrial 
Psychology,  Vol.  2,  p.  623-629.  Decem- 
ber, 1927. 

Shows  how  home  habits  arc  natural 
habits  and  how  some  home  habits  such  as 
tidiness  and  personal  sanitation,  orderli- 
ness, thrift  and  punctuality  affect  the 
accuracy  and   quality,    punctuality   and 


attention  to  duty  and  thoroughness  in 
work  at  the  shop. 

GiLBRBTH,  Lillian  M.,  Gilbreth,  Inc. 
Solving  management  problems  abroad. 
Management  Review,  Vol.  16,  p.  359-363. 
November,  1927. 

Basis  of  wise  industrial  methods,  co- 
operation between  engineers  and  psycho- 
technicians,  selection,  placement,  train- 
ing, promotion. 

Hodges,  L.  H.,  and  Herring,  H.  L.  Labor 
problems.  Cotton,  Vol.  92,  p.  13-16. 
November,  1927. 

Owen,  Jennie  Small.  Biscuits  and  fried 
chicken  industrial  relations.  Industrial 
Psychology,  Vol.  12,  p.  574-576.  No- 
vember, 1927. 

Industrial  relations  at  the  Emporia 
Gazette,  Kansas. 

international  economic  conference 

International  Economic  Conference.  Inter- 
national Laliour  Review,  Vol.  16,  p.  305- 
327.     September,  1927. 

Characteristic  features  of  the  Confer- 
ence, statements  of  principles,  resolutions 
and  recommendations;  Economic  Confer- 
ence and  the  International  Labour  Or- 
ganization. 

INTERNATIONAL     CONGRESS     ON     SCIENTIFIC 
MANAGEME.VT 

Proceedings  of  the  third  International  Con- 
gress on  Scientific  Management  held  at 
Rome  from  September  5th  to  8th,  1927. 
Bulletin  of  the  Institute  of  Management, 
no.  3-4.  October-November,  1927,  entire 
issue  of  supplement  A. 

JOB    ANALYSIS 

American     Council     on     Education.    Job 
specifications.     Educational  Record,  sup- 
plement, no.  5.     October,  1927.     40  p. 
Sample  specifications. 

Jenkins,  R.  W.,  Ohio  State  Board  of  Voca- 
tional Education,  in  Charge  of  Foremen 
Training.  Job  analysis — how  to  do  it. 
Foreman's  Magazine,  Vol.  3,  p.  7,  15. 
Novem!)er,  1927. 

Use  and  value  of  job  analysis  in  im- 
proving various  operations  in  the  shop. 


Current  Periodicals 


411 


JOINT  RELATIONS 

Butler,  H.  B.,  C.  B.,  Deputy-Director  of 
the  International  Labour  Office.  Labor 
in  Europe.  Annals  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
Vol.  134,  p.  160-166.     November,  1927. 

Carlton,  Newcomb,  President  of  the  West- 
ern Union  Telegraph  Company.  Today's 
courier — Tomorrow's  business  man.  Ex- 
ecutive, Vol.  1,  p.  11,  26.  November, 
1927. 

Standards  set  for  telegraph  messenger 
boys. 

Frost,  O.  D.,  President,  Champlain  Mills, 
Chairman,  Committee  on  Industrial  Rela- 
tions, National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers. Foundations  of  man  management. 
Executives  Service  Bulletin  Vol.  5,  p. 
1-3.     September,  1927. 

Cooperation  the  key  to  profitable  work 
relations. 

Graham,  Right  Honorable  William,  P.C, 
M.P.  Place  of  industrial  welfare  in  the 
community.  Welfare  Work,  Vol.  8,  p. 
208-210.     November,  1927. 

Paper  read  at  the  Annual  General  Meet- 
ing and  Conference  of  the  Institute  of 
Industrial  Welfare  Workers,  Edinburgh, 
Scotland. 

Howard,  Clarentce  H.,  President,  Com- 
monwealth Steel  Company.  Labor  poli- 
cies as  a  sound  basis  for  successful  manu- 
facturing. Manufacturing  Industries, 
Vol.  14,  p.  331-334.     November,  1927. 

Policies  and  methods  by  which  the 
company  builds  up  cooperative  relation- 
ships between  management  and  men  as  a 
basis  on  which  to  smooth  out  the  opera- 
tion of  the  production  program  and  elimi- 
nate the  high  cost  of  labor  turnover,  la- 
bor inefficiency  and  industrial  accidents. 

McCoRMicK,  Cyrus,  Jr.,  Vice-President, 
International  Harvester  Company.  Part- 
ners on  the  pay  roll.  Saturday  Evening 
Post,  October  12,  1927.     14  p.     reprint. 

Mitten,  Dr.  A.  A.,  Philadelphia  Rapid 
Transit  Company.  Mitten  industrial 
philosophy.  Information  Service,  Vol. 
6,  p.  3.     November  5,  1927. 

Abstract  of  address  at  the  Annual 
National  Business  Conference  at  Babson 
Park. 


Rees,  Professor,  J.  F.,  M.A.,  M.Com. 
Ethical  basis  of  industrial  welfare.  Wel- 
fare Work,  Vol.  8,  p.  199-202.  November, 
1927. 

Paper  read  at  the  Annual  General  Meet- 
ing and  Conference  of  the  Institute  of 
Industrial  Welfare  Workers  at  Edinburgh, 
Scotland. 

Schwab,  Charles  M.,  President  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  and 
Chairman  of  the  Board,  Bethlehem  Steel 
Company.  Human  engineering  in  Ameri- 
can industry.  Railway  Age,  Vol.  83,  p. 
1151-1154.     December  10,  1927. 

Extracts  from  the  Presidential  address 
made  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  in 
New  York,  December  6,  1927.  "The 
human  element,  after  all,  determines  the 
progress  of  business  and  its  service  to 
the  country  at  large." 

LABOR — codes 

Industrial  code  in  Poland.  Industrial  and 
Labor  Information,  Vol.  24,  p.  75-77. 
October  17,  1927. 

The  Code  is  divided  into  ten  parts,  as 
follows:  (1)  Fundamental  principles,  i2) 
Industries  having  permanent  premises, 
(3)  Industries  not  having  permanent 
premises,  (4)  Markets  and  Fairs,  (5)  As- 
sociations and  Federations  of  Associa- 
tions, (6)  Apprentices  in  industry,  (7) 
Penal  clauses,  (8)  Industrial  authorities, 
(9)  Craftsmen,  (10)  Traditional  and  final 
provisions.  Each  section  is  digested  in 
this  article.  The  Code  became  effective 
June  7,  1927. 

LABOR   TURNOVER 

Parkinson,  Royal,  Manager  of  Personnel 
Activities,  American  Optical  Company. 
Picturing  the  quality  of  the  force  concisely 
for  executives.  Personnel,  Vol.  4,  p.  39- 
42.     November,  1927. 

Advocates  a  "skill  index"  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  regular  indexes  of  labor  turn- 
over. 

Reasons  for  discharge  of  employees  as  dis- 
closed by  exit  interviews.  Service  Letter, 
Vol.  402,  p.  2-3.    November  7,  1927. 


412 


Current  Periodicals 


LUNCHROOMS 

O'Shea,  Peter  F.  Mid-morning  lunch 
aids  production.  Manufacturing  Indus- 
tries, Vol.  14,  p.  446.     December,  1927. 

Lunch  counter  run  by  the  Hood  Rubber 
Company. 


MITTEN   M-iNAGEMENT,  INC. 

Calder,  John.  Industrial  relations  prog- 
ress and  Mitten  management.  Service 
Talks,  Vol.  8,  p.  3.    October  14,  1927. 

Prepared  for  the  Babson  Business  Con- 
ference. 


mental  hygiene 

Abbott,  E.  Stanley,  M.D.  Why  the  in- 
dustrialist should  be  interested  in  mental 
hygiene.  Human  Factor,  Vol.  3,  p.  12- 
13.     July-October,  1927. 

It  is  in  industrial  plants  that  mental 
hygienists  can  best  study  the  conditions 
that  make  for  efficiency  or  inefficiency  of 
industrial  workers;  and  it  is  there  that 
what  they  learn  can  be  applied  with  ad- 
vantage to  owners,  managers  and  opera- 
tives. 

Campbell,  C.  Macfie,  M.D.,  President, 
Massachusetts  Society  for  Mental  Hy- 
giene. Mental  hygiene  in  industry.  Hu- 
man Factor,  Vol.  3,  p.  9-11.  July- 
October,  1927. 
Describes  six  cases. 

Dixon,  Ronald  F.     Building  business  by  a 
personnel  inventory.     Industrial  Psychol- 
ogy, Vol.  2,  p.  615-620.     December,  1927. 
Describes  the  work  of  Dr.  V.  V.  Ander- 
soN  at  the  R.  H.  Macy  Store. 

Elkind,  Henry  B.,  M.D.  Practical  hy- 
gienic measure.  Human  factor.  Vol.  3,  p. 
11-12.     July-October,  1927. 

Suggests  using  the  weekly  output 
records  of  workers  prepared  by  the  wage 
clerks  as  a  means  of  keeping  track  of  the 
worker  by  the  psychiatrist. 

Macy  (R.  H.)  and  Company,  N.  Y.  Psy- 
chiatry in  business.  Survey,  Vol.  59,  p. 
371-372.     December  15,  1927. 

Experience  of  Dr.  V.  V.  Anderson,  M.D. 
Director  of  medical  research  for  R.  H. 
Macy  and  Company,  N.  Y. 

QuiNBY,  R.  S.,  M.D.,  Service  Manager, 
Hood  Rubber  Company.  Mental  hy- 
giene in  business.  Human  Factor,  Vol. 
3,  p.  11.     July-October,  1927. 

Abstract  of  remarks  by  Dr.  Quinby 
before  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Associated  Industries  of  Massachusetts 
at  its  April  meeting. 


Kornhauser,  Arthur  W.,  University  of 
Chicago.  Effect  of  noise  on  office  output. 
Industrial  Psychology,  Vol.  2,  p.  621-622. 
December,  1927. 

One  aspect  of  a  research  being  made  by 
Dr.  Kornhauser  and  Richard  Page  in 
the  field  of  noise  and  its  requirements  in 
energy  expenditure. 

office  workers 

Office  Workers,  cross  section  of  the  current 
market.  Current  conditions,  November, 
1927,  p.  2. 

Analysis  of  the  supply  and  demand  for 
men  and  women  accountants,  book- 
keepers, clerks,  correspondents,  office 
device  operators,  managers  of  depart- 
ments, stenographers  and  typists. 

organization  and  administration 

Management  Week  at  the  Ohio  State  Univer- 
sity, Management  Week  program,  who's 
who  for  Management  Week,  cooperation  in 
Management  Week.  Bulletin  of  Busi- 
ness research,  Supplement  11 ;  entire  num- 
ber October,  1927. 

The  meeting  was  divided  into  the  fol- 
lowing sections:  Accounting,  Engineering, 
Psychological,  Industrial  Management, 
Statistical,  Foremanship,  Simplified 
Practice,  Management  Relations. 

periodicals 

Illinois  Steel  Company.  Value  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  technical  magazines  throughout 
the  plant.  South  Works  Review,  Vol. 
15,  p.  5-6.     November,  1927. 

personnel  management 

Anderson,  Dr.  V.  V.,  Director  of  Medical 
Research,  Macy  (R.  H.)  &  Co.  Mew 
approach  to  personnel  work.  Executive 
Service  Bulletin,  Vol.  5,  p.  1-3. 


Current  Periodicals 


413 


Discusses  reasons  for  job  failure,  pro- 
motion material,  main  lines  of  approach, 
foundation  of  personality,  mental  atti- 
tude, what  treatment  does,  surveys  and 
analyses  of  jobs. 
McDonald,  J.  R.  Personnel  work  and  the 
bus  operator.  Bus  transporation,  Vol.  6, 
p.  608-610.  November,  1927.  (To  be 
continued.) 

PRODUCTIVITY — LABOR 

Increased  productivity  in  various  industries. 
Monthly  labor  review,  Vol.  25,  p.  741- 
748.    October,  1927. 

Output  per  worker  between  1899  and 
1925  increased  45  per  cent  in  agriculture, 
171  per  cent  in  mining,  and  48  per  cent  in 
manufacturing  and  railway  transportation 
according  to  this  study  made  by  the  De- 
partment of  Commerce. 

PROMOTIONS  AND  TRANSFERS 

Rowlands,  R.  A.,  Standard  Oil  Company 
(Indiana),  Casper  plant.  Basing  pro- 
motions and  demotions  on  seniority  rights. 
Stanolind  Record,  Vol.  9,  p.  13-16.  No- 
vember, 1927. 

General  discussion  of  the  subject  from 
the  point  of  view  of  a  worker  in  an  organi- 
zation which  runs  under  a  system  of  in- 
dustrial cooperation. 

PSYCHOLOGY 

Adie,  D.  C.  Toward  the  rediscovery  of  the 
individual  in  industry.  Family,  Vol.  8, 
p.  295-300.     December,  1927. 

Bogardus,  Emory  S.,  University  of  South- 
ern California.  Personality  and  occu- 
pational attitudes.  Sociology  and  Social 
Research,  Vol.  12,  p.  73-79.  September- 
October,  1927. 

recreation 

Most  popular  recreational  activities  for  em- 
ployees in  winter.  Service  Letter,  Vol. 
401,  p.  3-4.    October  31,  1927.' 

Recreation  leaders  meet  in  fourteenth  con- 
gress.   National  Safety  News,  Vol.  16,  p. 
68.    November,  1927. 
Brief  resume  of  the  papers  read. 


ScHWEiNiTZ,  Karlde.  Ncw  tools  of  leisure. 
Family,  Vol.  8,  p.  251-260.  December, 
1927. 

research 

Business  research  activities.  Management 
Review,  Vol.  16,  p.  399-401,  December, 
1927. 

A  summary  of  replies  from  A.  M.  A. 
members. 

Expenditures  for  industrial  research.  Serv- 
ice Letter,  No.  403,  p.  1-2,  November 
14,  1927. 

Hawkins,  L.  A.,  Engineer  of  Research 
Laboratory,  General  Electric  Company, 
Schenectady.  Research-source  of  new 
profits.  Factory,  Vol.  39,  p.  796-799. 
November,  1927. 

KiNTNER,  S.  M.,  Manager,  Research  De- 
partment, Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company.  Making  re- 
search profitable.  Manufacturing  Indus- 
tries, Vol.  14,  p.  415-418.  December,  1927. 
Making  discoveries  as  a  business- — the 
management  of  a  large  industrial  research 
laboratory. 


Blank,  E.  F.,  Jones  and  Laughlin  Steel 
Corporation.  No-accident  competiiions 
reduce  accidents.  Manufacturing  Indus- 
tries, Vol.  14,  p.  472-473.  December, 
1927. 

Suggests  eight  methods  of  selecting  the 
winner. 

Case,  R.  O.,  Production  ^Manager,  Pool 
Manufacturing  Company.  Safety  methods 
cut  accident  costs.  Industrial  Manage- 
ment, Vol.  14,  p.  442.     December,  1927. 

Better  safety  methods  make  big  savings 
as  shown  by  records  for  year  1926,  in  ac- 
cident frequency,  severity,  cost,  cost  per 
accident,  payroll  per  accident  and  loss 
ratio. 

Gadsby,  G.  M.,  President,  West  Penn 
Power  Company,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  By- 
products of  accident  prevention.  National 
Safety  News,  Vol.  16,  p.  30-32.  Decem- 
ber, 1927. 

Heinrich,  Herbert  W.,  Travelers  insur- 
ance Company,  Hartford,  Conn.  Inci- 
dental cost  of  accidents  to  the  employer. 


414 


Current  Periodicals 


Monthly  Labor  Review,  Vol.  25,  p.  270- 
274.     August,  1927. 

The  Travelers  Insurance  Company's 
analysis  of  5,000  accident  records  in  their 
files  shows  that  the  compensation  cost 
averages  one-fifth  of  total  cost  to  the 
employers. 

Humphreys,  Dr.  R.  E.,  Assistant  General 
Manager  of  Manufacturing,  Standard 
Oil  Company  (Indiana).  Department  head 
responsible  for  workers'  safety.  Stanolind 
Record,  Vol.  9,  p.  1-5.  November,  1927. 
High  accident  score  must  count  against 
promotion  of  any  executive  or  sub-execu- 
tive as  it  indicates  his  failure  properly 
to  educate  the  men  under  him. 

Illinois  Central  System.  Safety  car  tour 
successful.  Illinois  Central  Magazine, 
Vol.  16,  p.  35-36.     November,  1927. 

McAllister,  Robert,  Chief  Mine  Inspec- 
tor, C.  F.  &  I.  Co.,  Denver,  Colo.  Safety 
by  foresight  at  mines  of  C.  F .  &  I.  Co. 
Coal  Age,  Vol.  32,  p.  330-332.  December, 
1927. 

Illustrated  by  safety  devices. 

Purdue  conducts  safety  tests.  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Magazine,  Vol.  16,  p.  18-20.  Decem- 
ber, 1927. 

Account  of  the  tests  being  conducted 
by  the  American  Railway  Association  at 
Purdue  University,  Lafaj'ette,  Indiana. 

United  States  Steel  Corporation.  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  reduces  accidents 
84  per  cent.  Safety,  Vol.  13,  p.  100-102. 
October,  1927. 

Gives  statistics  and  is  illustrated. 

Yaglou,  C.  p.,  Harvard  University.  Ef- 
fects of  high  temperatures.  Industrial 
psychology,  Vol.  2,  p.  601-603.  Decem- 
ber, 1927. 

Around  90°F.  the  human  body  loses  its 
ability  to  compensate  for  heat.  When 
hard  work  is  done  in  hot  places  rest  pe- 
riods are  especially  necessary.  Impor- 
tant experiments  in  this  field  are  described 
by  Dr.  Yaglou. 


Mitten  Management,  Inc.    Nyman  formula 
up  to  date.    Service  Talks,  Vol.  8,  p.  2, 
October  14,  1927. 
Shows  monthlv  income  and  estate  at 


age  sixty-five  for  P.  R.  T.  employees  at 
ages  25  to  55. 

STATISTICS 

American  Management  Association.  Num- 
ber of  office  employees  {including  execu- 
tives) compared  with  other  figures.  Per- 
sonnel, Vol.  4,  p.  52-53.  November, 
1927. 

Table  showing  for  86  firms  the  relation 
between  the  following  figures:  total 
number  of  employees;  number  of  office 
executives;  factory  executives;  factory 
clerks;  salesmen;  employees  in  sales  de- 
partment office;  persons  dictating  let- 
ters; stenographers;  clerical  and  account- 
ing staff  exclusive  of  sales  department; 
bills  sent  out  per  year;  vendors  bills 
paid  per  year;  customers  received  per 
year. 

Economic  Statistics,  an  index  of  labor's 
share  in  production  and  in  consumption. 
American  Federationist,  Vol.  34,  p.  1350- 
1368.     November,  1927. 


Strikes  costs  enormous.     Industrial  Digest, 
Vol.  6,  p.  68.    December,  1927. 

Over  7,500,000  working  days  lost  in 
past  year  through  labor  disputes — cloth- 
ing trades  were  the  heaviest  losers. 


Bartlett,  E.  D.,  Director  of  Office  Per- 
sonnel and  Employment,  Atlantic  Refin- 
ing Company.  Practical  rating  scale. 
Industrial  Psychology,  Vol.  12,  p.  564- 
570.     November,  1927. 

"Characteristic  sheet"  used  by  the 
Atlantic  Refining  Company  described. 
Examples  of  these  sheets  and  of  rating 
scales  are  given. 

Hunt,  Thelma,  Teacher,  Middle  Tennessee 
State  Teachers  College.  What  social  in- 
telligence is  and  where  to  find  it.  Indus- 
trial Psychology,  Vol.  2,  p.  605-612.  De- 
cember, 1927. 

Defines  social  intelligence  and  describes 
a  test  devised  to  measure  it. 

Laird,  Donald  A.,  Ph.D.,  Sci.D.,  Professor 
of  Psychology,  Colgate  University.     Test 


Current  Periodicals 


415 


your  man's  interests  before  you  hire  him. 
Factory,  Vol.  39,  p.  1015.  December, 
1927. 

Interest  inventory  used  by  the  person- 
nel department. 

Mills,  John,  Director  of  Publications,  Bell 
Telephone  Laboratories,  Inc.  Know  thy- 
self— a  mutual  requirement  for  an  employer 
and  an  employee.  Management  Review, 
Vol.  16,  p.  395-399.     December,  1927. 

Tests  for  junior  personnel  examiner.  Pub- 
lic personnel  studies,  Vol.  5,  p.  218-226. 
October,  1927. 

The  tests  for  Junior  Personnel  examiner 
as  outlined  in  this  article  and  given  in  part 
in  appendix  1  have  not  been  standardized 
in  the  technical  sense  of  the  term,  but  rep- 
resent the  ideas  of  the  staff  of  the  Bureau 
of  Public  Personnel  Administration  as  to 
the  sort  of  material  that  might  well  be 
used  in  selecting  personnel  examiners  who 
know  the  principles  of  test  construction 
and  who  are  familiar  with  the  elementary 
statistical  processes  involved  in  the  statis- 
tical analysis  and  interpretation  of  test 
results.  In  both  content  and  form  the 
tests  in  the  main  differ  quite  markedly 
from  those  which  have  been  used  in  the 
past  by  public  personnel  agencies. 

Wells,  F.  L.,  Ph.D.  Relation  of  psycho- 
logical testing  to  mental  hygiene.  Hiunan 
Factor,  Vol.  3,  p.  13.     July-October,  1927. 

TRAINING 

Payne,  Dr.  Arthur  Frank.  Job  training 
in  a  chocolate  factory.  Industrial  Psychol- 
ogy, Vol.  11,  p.  549-552.  November, 
1927. 

Description  of  the  work  of  Cadbury 
Brothers,  Ltd.,  Bourneville,  Birmingham, 
England. 

TRAINING — APPRENTICES 

Apprentice  course  for  glove  cutters.  Service 
letter  no.  399,  p.  3.     October  17,  1927. 

Glove  cutters'  school  operated  by  a 
glove  manufacturers  association  and  a 
board  of  education. 

Briggs,  Harold  L.,  Director  of  Vocational 
and  Practical  Arts,  Cleveland.  Cleve- 
land  plan  for   apprentice   training.     In- 


dustrial Psychology,   Vol.  2,  p.  595-600. 

December,  1927. 
Describes  how  industrial  contacts  are 

maintained  and  how  teachers  are  taught. 
A  cooperative  plan  in  apprenticeship  train- 
ing.    Service    letter,    no.    406,    p.    1-2. 

December  5,  1927. 
Vandercrook,    D.    C.     Why   it    pays    one 

motor    company     to     train     apprentices. 

Trained  Men,  Vol.  7,  p.  107-109,  114^115. 

November  and  December,  1927. 
Reo  Motor  Car  practice. 

training — executives 

Charters,  W.  W.  Are  you  developing  new 
executives?  Chicago  Commerce,  p.  7-8. 
November  5,  1927. 

Business  drops  hit  or  miss  methods  for 
efficient  replacement  of  major  personnel. 

training — foremen 

Dodge,  Arthur  F.,  Assistant  Professor, 
Industrial  Education,  University  of  Il- 
linois. Practical  aspects  of  foreman 
training.  Industrial  Management,  Vol. 
74,  p.  363-367.     December,  1927. 

Present  daj^  methods  and  policies  de- 
scribed giving  a  suggested  outline  and  a 
bibliography. 

unemployment  insurance 

Unemployment  insurance  in  Great  Britain. 
Industrial  and  Labour  Information,  Vol. 
24,  p.  148-151.     October  31,  1927. 

The  new  bill,  rates  of  contributions, 
rate  of  weekly  benefits,  labour  party  and 
unemployment. 

Unemployment  insurance  in  Italy  from  1920 
to  1925.  International  Labour  Review, 
Vol.  16,  p.  535-540.     October,  1927. 

Review  of:  Ministerio  dell'Economica 
Nazionale:  L'Assicurazione  contro  la  dis- 
occupazione  in  Italia,  by  Dr.  Ernesto 
Campese,  1927.  Gives:  unemployment 
insurance  contributions,  1920-1925;  per- 
centage of  contributions  paid  by  each  wage 
grade;  expenditure  in  benefits,  1920-1925; 
applications  for  benefit  authorized  and 
number  of  days'  benefit;  contributions  to 
national  unemplojinent  fund  by  mixed 
regional  and  trade  union  funds,  1920- 
1925. 


416 


Current  Periodicals 


UNION-MANAGEMENT  COOPERATION 

Thompson,  Laura  A.,  Librarian,  United 
States  Department  of  Labor.  Union- 
management  cooperation:  a  list  of  refer- 
ences. Monthly  Labor  Review,  Vol.  25, 
p.  936-943.     October,  1927. 

Annotated  bibliography  covering: 
general  discussion;  railroads;  other  in- 
dustries. 

UNITED   STATES — ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 

Brougham,  H.  B.,  Pollack  Foundation  for 
Economic  Research.  Is  the  American 
people  prosperousf  In  terms  of  minimum 
comfort  and  decency  the  majority  has  yet 
some  distance  to  go.  American  Federa- 
tionist,  Vol.  34,  p.  1309-1318.  Novem- 
ber, 1927. 


New  York  State-Labor  Department-Statis- 
tics and  Information  Bureau.  Office 
workers'  earnings.  Industrial  Bulletin 
(New  York  State),  Vol.  7,  p.  53.  Novem- 
ber, 1927. 

Gives  average  weekly  earnings  of  office 
employees  in  represenative  New  York 
State  factories  for  the  month  of  October 
from  1919  to  1927,  the  table  also  separates 
out  men  and  women  workers. 

Shepherd,  George  H.,  Professor  of  Indus- 
trial Engineering  and  Management  at 
Purdue  University.  Economic  aspects  of 
wages.  Industrial  Management,  Vol.  74, 
p.  224r-229;  October,  1927;  p.  289-296, 
November,  1927. 

Fundamental  relationships  between 
wages  and  production.  Newer  concep- 
tion of  wages,  its  application  and  its 
effects. 


vacations 

Annual  leaves  of  absence  with  pay.  Public 
Personnel  Studies,  Vol.  5,  p.  230-232. 
November,  1927. 

Results  of  a  study  made  by  the  Bureau 
of  Public  Personnel  Administration. 


Bellerby,  J.  R.  Evolution  of  a  wage  ad- 
justment system.  International  Labour 
Review,  Vol.  16,  p.  1-25,  196-215,  328-360. 
July,  August,  September,  1927. 

Comparative  wage  rates  in  the  United  States 
and  foreign  countries.  Monthly  Labor 
Review,  Vol.  25,  p.  334-355.  August. 
1927. 

This  tabulation  of  wage  rates  by  occu- 
pations, assembles  in  convenient  form 
for  comparison  data  published  in  the 
Monthly  Labor  Review  during  recent 
months. 


WAGES — payment  METHODS 

Hasselhorn,  Walter  C,  Industrial  En- 
gineer, Wilson  and  Company.  Changing 
piece-work  to  bonus  reduced  labor  cost  and 
increased  earnings.  Manufacturing  In- 
dustries, Vol.  14,  p.  435-438.  December, 
1927. 

In  a  packing  department  a  task-and- 
bonus  plan  displaced  piece  work  and 
eliminated  day  work,  cut  unit  labor  cost 
10%  and  increased  piece  work  earnings 
5% — in  a  cooperage  shop  new  equipment 
permitted  new  occupational  rates,  bonus 
replaced  piece-work  with  a  48%  reduction 
in  labor  cost,  which  will  pay  for  machin- 
ery in  a  year. 

WORLD   economic  CONFERENCE 

Report.  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Political  and  Social  Science,  Vol.  134, 
p.  174-206.     November,  1927. 


A  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 

By  V.  V.  Anderson,  M.D.,  R.  H.  Macy  and  Company,  New  York 

Dr.  Anderson's  position  as  Director  of  Medical  Research  at  R.  H. 
Macy  and  Company  is  without  a  parallel.  He  is  probably  the  only 
psychiatrist  concerned  with  employment  and  general  personnel 
activities,  either  in  a  department  store  or  in  industry.  His  prog- 
ress will  be  observed  closely  by  research  workers  and  business 
executives,  for  this  is  a  vital  experiment  in  the  application  of  science 
to  employment. 

This  formulation  of  employment  office  technique  is  placed  in  the 
hands  of  interviewers  as  a  guide.  It  is  a  comprehensive  statement 
of  Dr.  Anderson's  objectives  and  procedures. 


IT  WAS  our  purpose  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  guide  to  prepare  an 
outUne  of  a  fairly  comprehensive 
employment  technique  which  experi- 
ence has  led  us  to  beUeve  is  not  only 
suitable  to  our  present  needs  but 
fundamental  to  what  will  ultimately 
become  the  accepted  practices  of  this 
phase  of  personnel  work. 

FUNCTION    OF    THE    INTERVIEWER 

It  is  the  function  of  the  interviewer 
to  bring  together,  analyze,  and  digest 
all  of  the  information  that  bears  upon 
the  suitability  of  an  applicant  for  a 
given  job  as  well  as  his  general  value 
as  a  personnel  risk  for  other  possible 
positions.  He  sums  up  all  of  this 
information  into  an  individual  diag- 
nosis and  decides  to  employ  or  reject 
the  given  applicant.  The  interviewer, 
himself,  is  the  most  important  element 
in  the  entire  employment  situation. 
His  knowledge,  experience,  interview- 
ing technique  and  diagnostic  ability 


become  the  index  to  the  quality  of 
personnel  employed.  Tests  and  other 
tools  to  be  used  can  aid  and  guide  him 
in  getting  a  better  knowledge  of 
certain  aspects  of  a  given  appHcant's 
abilities  but  they  will  never  alone  and 
of  themselves  furnish  sufficient  in- 
formation to  afford  a  safe  basis  for 
securing  employees,  for  they  do  not 
evaluate  the  entire  personality.  His 
special  training  and  experience  should 
have  given  him  a  clinical  knowledge 
that  forms  the  background  for  under- 
standing the  physical  and  mental 
factors  that  underlie  faulty  human 
adjustments  bringing  about  failure  at 
work  or  failure  in  other  life  situations. 
This  knowledge  constitutes  an  under- 
standing of  the  personality,  a  diag- 
nostic acumen  that  enables  the  inter- 
viewer to  make  satisfactory  estimates 
of  the  possibilities  in  any  given  appli- 
cant for  successful  adaptation  to  work. 
If  sound  progress  in  employment 
work  is  to  be  attained,  we  must  cast 


417 


THE  PERSONiNEL  JOURNAL,   VOL.    VI,   NO.   6 


418 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Emploj'ment 


aside  theories  of  inborn,  mystical 
ability  to  "size  people  up"  or  "to  read 
character."  What  all  honest  investi- 
gators are  after  is  a  discipline  that 
presupposes  a  knowledge  and  a  tech- 
nique— a  discipline  that  offers  some- 
thing more  solid  than  guesswork. 

The  issues  involved  in  work  adjust- 
ments do  not  differ  in  their  fundamen- 
tals from  those  underlying  behavior 
problems  in  other  walks  of  life.  These 
issues  can  be  approached  in  the  same 
scientific  spirit  that  we  have  sought  to 
understand  natural  phenomena  in 
general.  Long  since  have  we  dis- 
carded the  idea  that  behavior 
disorders,  either  of  children  or  adults 
are  not  amenable  to  an  acceptable 
scientific  method  of  inquiry.  We  are 
forced  to  deny  the  fact  that  people  are 
just  good  or  bad  employees  and  that 
by  some  trick  method  the  sheep  can 
be  picked  out  from  the  goats;  nor  do 
we  stand  any  longer  for  the  belief  that 
there  is  no  known  way  of  ever  telling 
just  how  an  applicant  will  behave  in  a 
given  job  situation.  That  these  things 
can  be  investigated  and  fairly  well 
understood  and  that  they  can  be  ap- 
proached in  the  same  scientific  spirit 
of  study  that  we  have  sought  to  under- 
stand other  human  problems  is  now 
an  accepted  fact. 

It  has  seemed  that  there  was  a  gulf 
between  the  practical,  "hard  boiled," 
experienced  man  of  business  with  a 
good  common  sense  background  who 
does  the  employing,  and  the  laboratory 
psychologist  whose  exact  methods  of 
measurement  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  shrewd  "hunches"  of  the  prac- 
tical man.  The  first  in  his  attitude 
towards  scientific  method  oscillates 
between  a  naive  gullibility — swallow- 


ing hook,  line  and  sinker — and  open 
resistance  and  antagonism.  On  the 
one  hand,  we  find  employment  people 
who  expect  a  simple  intelligence  test 
to  select  good  employees  for  them,  as 
though  the  matter  of  cleverness  or 
smartness  was  the  principle  deter- 
mining factor  in  work  success.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  find  interviewers 
who  will  have  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  the  whole  thing;  this  due 
either  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the 
use  of  such  methods,  or  to  prejudice 
against  a  technique  in  which  they 
themselves  are  not  trained.  In  other 
words,  the  average  interviewer  does 
not  utilize  the  psychological  test  at  its 
proper  value. 

Some  inexperienced  industrial  psy- 
chologists in  their  over-weening  ambi- 
tion to  settle  at  one  blow  all  employ- 
ment problems  have  sadly  oversold 
the  matter  of  psychological  tests  or 
have  misunderstood  their  limitations. 
Hence  the  layman  is  apt  to  feel  that 
the  psychological  test  itself  is  the 
selective  agent.  The  fact  is  that 
neither  one  of  these  groups  is  wholly 
right  or  wrong.  The  interview  if 
properly  conducted  and  intelhgently 
interpreted  opens  up  knowledge  con- 
cerning the  applicant's  past  history 
and  ways  of  behaving  that  furnish  the 
most  fruitful  basis  for  judging  what 
his  future  adjustments  are  likely  to 
be;  while  the  results  of  the  psycho- 
logical tests  disclose  abilities  and  dis- 
abilities that,  when  properly  inter- 
preted by  the  well-trained  interviewer 
in  the  light  of  all  other  information 
about  the  applicant,  contribute  an 
addition  to  employment  technique 
that  is  invaluable.  But  neither  by 
itself  offers  an  adequate  method  for 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


419 


diagnosing    potential    work    adjust- 
ments. 

We  have  in  the  interviewing  situa- 
tion a  problem  to  be  attacked  similar 
to  that  presented  to  the  psychiatrist 
in  diagnosing  the  factors  underlying 
his  patient's  behavior  disorder  and 
making  a  prognosis  of  the  future  out- 
come. We  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  every  phase  of  the  study 
of  a  given  case  as  it  is  carried  out  by 
the  clinician  can  be  utilized  by  the 
interviewer  in  determining  the  work 
adjustment  possibilities  of  a  given 
applicant. 

Importance    of   detailed   knowledge    of 
the  job 

In  order  that  the  interviewer  may 
be  able  to  predict  with  any  degree  of 
satisfaction  the  possible  success  or 
failure  of  a  given  applicant,  he  must 
be  well  acquainted  with  just  the  thing 
that  the  applicant  is  expected  to 
do — the  job  and  its  environment. 
Not  only  is  this  true  from  the  point  of 
view  of  routine  work  and  production 
records  but  from  the  viewpoint  of  the 
possible  effect  of  the  work  on  the 
individual  employee. 

If  he  is  skilled  in  his  technique  of 
eliciting  information  as  to  the  in- 
dividual's personaUty,  he  will  be  none 
the  less  ineffective  in  selecting  good 
material  for  particular  jobs  unless  he 
has  so  complete  a  knowledge  of  the 
work  that  he  can  relate  the  personality 
factors  brought  out  in  the  interview 
to  the  particular  ones  which  are 
desirable  or  undesirable  in  the  job  in 
question.  Even  such  seemingly  like 
jobs  as  those  included  under  the 
general  head  of  clerical  work  present 
problems  in  individual  fitness  which 


the  interviewer  cannot  meet  unless 
he  has  at  hand  a  thorough  analysis  of 
the  job  and  has  incorporated  this  into 
his  employment  technique.  Not  only 
do  the  details  of  the  work  vary,  but 
the  environment,  the  type  of  super- 
vision, degree  of  concentration, 
amount  of  variation  within  the  job 
itself,  etc.,  all  are  different,  sometimes 
even  within  a  limited  section. 

For  example,  let  us  take  such  de- 
tailed clerical  work  as  is  involved  in 
keeping  a  control  on  orders  for  mer- 
chandise— our  so-called  Order  Check- 
ing Division.  There  are  two  groups 
of  people  doing  this  job.  One  of 
these  groups  is  on  the  Tenth  Floor 
and  has  its  work  very  well  planned 
and  centralized.  The  other  group  is 
on  the  Ninth  Floor  and  has  a  rather 
different  situation  to  meet.  The  work 
is  more  individualized.  There  are 
extra  duties  not  included  in  the  work 
of  the  upper-floor  group,  the  type  of 
merchandise  and  the  buyers  of  it  are 
different,  and  so  the  factors  involved 
in  success  must  necessarily  vary. 
Similar  variations  and  differentiations 
within  jobs  occur  in  almost  every 
group  studied.  It  is,  of  course,  possi- 
ble to  analyze  these  minutiae  of  jobs 
to  too  great  an  extent.  The  result  of 
that  would  be  an  almost  endless  con- 
fusion and  inability  to  retain  a  very 
clear  concept  of  any  of  them.  But  it 
is  essential  that  we  keep  in  mind  those 
outstanding  differences  in  all  the  jobs 
we  study,  as  far  as  possible,  realizing 
their  importance  as  guides  in  selection 
and  placement. 

A  first  hand  acquaintance  with  a 
task  through  actually  working  at  the 
job  itself  for  a  short  period  is  desir- 
able.    Ever}'-  effort  should  be  made 


420 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


by  the  interviewer  to  analyze  his  own 
mental  content,  his  feeUngs  and  atti- 
tude towards  the  job  he  is  studying. 
He  should  seek  to  put  himself  in  the 
place  of  a  potential  employee  and 
introspect  on  his  own  reactions  to  the 
given  work. 

It  is  important  that  he  make  some 
judgments  and  secure  some  actual 
information  bearing  upon  the  type  of 
people  who  do  just  this  sort  of  work; 
what  sort  of  equipment,  from  a  phys- 
ical and  mental  viewpoint,  is  needed; 
what  sort  of  social  status  is  the  group 
drawn  from;  what  ages,  schooling, 
etc.,  seem  pertinent  to  this  type  of 
work.  The  more  he  knows  of  the 
personalities  that  succeed  and  those 
that  fail  the  more  accurate  will  be  his 
employment  selection.  As  he  comes 
in  contact  with  the  job,  he  will  find 
that  often  other  considerations  than 
the  actual  work  itself  are  determining 
factors  in  connection  with  the  satis- 
faction of  the  employee  and  his  or  her 
ultimate  status.  Such  matters  as  the 
personalities  of  those  supervising  and 
at  the  head  of  the  department;  the 
ideals  and  standards  of  the  depart- 
ment; whether  loafing  on  the  job  and 
mediocre  results  are  tolerated,  or 
whether  an  over-amount  of  pressure 
in  order  to  meet  the  demands  of 
exacting  production  records  is  the 
rule;  whether  the  department  as  a 
whole  is  well  tuned  up  to  that  sort  of 
work  achievement  that  gets  the  best 
out  of  the  individual  employee  at  the 
same  time  that  the  greatest  amount  of 
individual  contentment  and  average 
normal  health  is  maintained  among  the 
employees. 

For  the  interviewer  to  know  all  of 


these  facts  means  constant  contact 
through  personal  follow-up  actually  on 
the  job.  None  of  these  data  are  of 
sufficiently  static  quality  to  be  ac- 
quired at  one  time,  and  then  retained 
for  permanent  use.  Only  the  merest 
outline  in  the  way  of  job  specifications 
and  analysis  can  be  given  him  through 
the  ordinary  write-up  of  the  work. 
The  many  changing  relationships  that 
have  to  do  with  the  success  or  failure 
of  the  people  who  do  the  work,  can 
only  be  fully  grasped  through  his  own 
intimate  personal  contact  with  those 
who  are  daily  on  the  job. 

As  a  reminder  and  special  guide, 
there  should  be  available  carefully 
prepared  job  descriptions,  job  analysis, 
job  and  personnel  specifications.  This 
material  is  likely  to  change  from  time 
to  time,  but  it  will  be  a  helpful  aid  in 
keeping  before  him  at  all  times  the 
essential  facts  to  be  considered  in 
connection  with  any  given  job. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  suggest  here 
any  technique  for  conducting  a  job 
analysis  and  outlining  job  specifica- 
tions. This  is  an  approach  for  which 
the  interviewer  is  not  at  all  equipped, 
nor  is  he  fundamentally  interested. 
His  own  point  of  view  emphasizes  the 
individual  considerably  more  than 
the  task,  and  this  is  the  reason  for  the 
presentation  of  the  material  we  are  at 
present  discussing. 

METHODS    EMPLOYED    IN    CONDUCTING 
THE    INTERVIEW 

The  employment  interview  may  be 
conducted  under  the  following  main 
headings;  (A)  Personal  History,  (B) 
Personality  Study,  (C)  Home  Prob- 
lems. 


Anderson:  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment  421 


A.    PERSONAL   HISTORY 

The  personal  history  may  for  prac- 
tical purposes  be  considered  under  the 
following  headings.  (1)  Develop- 
mental History,  (2)  Health  History, 
(3)  Educational  History,  (4)  Work 
History.  (The  interviewer  should 
probably  start  the  interview  with  the 
work  history.) 

The  developmental  history  has  to  do 
largely  with  an  inquiry  into  the  im- 
portant facts  relating  to  the  normal 
physical  and  mental  development  of 
the  individual,  and  for  practical  pur- 
poses is  of  little  use  in  connection  with 
the  employment  technique.  It  is  a 
fundamental  field  for  investigation  in 
the  clinical  study  of  an  individual  as  a 
patient,  but  in  connection  with  the 
employment  interview,  the  informa- 
tion gathered  will  prove  difficult  to 
evaluate.  So  that  this  phase  of  the 
study  may  be  practically  ignored. 

The  health  history  is  a  most  impor- 
tant, and  in  fact  an  essential  field  for 
investigation,  not  only  from  the  point 
of  view  of  actual  past  or  present 
physical  conditions  that  may  seriously 
affect  the  applicant's  chances  for  suc- 
cess at  work,  but  as  throwing  light 
on  mental  conditions  and  personaUty 
disorders  that  so  commonly  reflect 
themselves  in  bodily  complaints  and  in- 
fluence the  employee' s  work  value .  An 
acquaintance  with  psychopathology 
will  give  the  interviewer  an  insight  into 
the  meaning  of  many  of  these  sup- 
posed physical  symptoms  and  their 
significance  in  the  individual's  work 
adaptation, — how  and  why  certain 
people  become  sick  and  later 
accomplish  a  neurotic  adaptation  to- 
ward life.     These  issues  will  be  dis- 


cussed in  more  or  less  detail  under  the 
heading  of  "Personality  Study." 

It  is  advisable  to  inquire  into  the 
past  health  history  with  special  em- 
phasis upon  accidents,  operations,  con- 
vulsive seizures,  the  ordinary  physical 
defects  and  disorders  and  serious  or 
prolonged   and   debilitating   illnesses. 
Recent    changes    in    the    applicant's 
health  and  his  present  physical  condi- 
tion should  be  carefully  questioned. 
These   conditions   often   show   them- 
selves in  changes  in  appetite,  digestion, 
sleep  and  his  feelings  of  general  well- 
being.     Fatigue,  headaches,  dizziness, 
constipation,   eye  strain,   indigestion, 
insomnia,    menstrual   difficulties   and 
the  like  are  brought  out  in  the  inter- 
view and  these  often  are  of  consider- 
able    importance     in     enabling     the 
interviewer  to  make  judgments  as  to 
the  future  work  value  of  the  applicant. 
Frequently  the  medical  examiners 
will  accept  as  a  fair  risk  individuals 
whom    the    well-trained    interviewer 
will  turn  down  as  being  unprofitable 
material  for  the  reason  he  has  long 
since  learned, — that  the  issues  which 
actually  lower  the  worker's  efficiency 
and    production  value,   are  not   due 
so    much    to    recognizable    physical 
diseases  and  defects,  as  to  the  mental 
attitude   with  which  the    individual 
deals    with    his    personal    and    other 
problems;  not  so  much  what  is  actually 
the  matter  with  him  as  what  he  thinks, 
or  wishes,  or  feels  to  be  the  matter 
with  him. 

He  will  bear  in  mind,  however,  that 
he  is  to  leave  to  the  medical  examiner 
the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  new 
employees  when  physical  conditions 
affecting  work  value  are  in  question. 
A  health  record  of  the  appKcant  will, 


422 


Anderson:  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


however,  often  throw  Ught  upon  im- 
portant matters  affecting  physical  en- 
durance, ability  to  work  under  steady 
pressure,  to  tolerate  standing  jobs,  or 
lifting  jobs,  or  long  hours,  or  extremes 
of  heat  and  cold,  or  exposure,  etc., 
and  should  be  thoughtfully  taken  by 
the  interviewer  as  a  part  of  his  study 
of  the  individual  applicant. 

The  school  career  and  the  educational 
background  secured  by  an  applicant 
for  employment  may  throw  light  on 
many  issues  that  determine  the  choice 
of  work,  and  sometimes  success  or 
failure  in  certain  jobs;  it  may  even 
throw  light  upon  the  intelligence  de- 
velopment and  the  drives  in  his 
personality,  such  as  ambition,  voca- 
tional interests,  etc. 

Such  a  history,  when  properly  taken, 
gives  a  picture  of  the  opportunities 
the  individual  has  had  for  equipping 
himself,  and  the  use  he  has  made  of 
these  opportunities.  While  the  prac- 
tical purposes  of  the  inquiry  must  be 
definitely  limited  to  essential  points  of 
which  the  interviewer  can  make  imme- 
diate use,  still  in  some  cases  a  more  ex- 
tended investigation  is  profitable. 
Our  object  here  is  to  call  attention  to 
those  essential  facts  that  must  be 
obtained  in  any  given  case,  such  as: 

1.  Grade  reached  in  school. 

2.  Age  at  leaving  school. 

3.  Going  to  school  at  present? 

4.  If  so,  nature  of  studies  being  under- 

taken. 

5.  Special  vocational  training. 

6.  Work    experience    that   provides  spe- 

cialized training. 

7.  Future  educational  plans. 

The  woi'k  history  should  start  off 
with  an  inquiry  into  the  individual's 
first  regular  job,  its  nature,  as  well  as 


the  type  of  concern  in  which  the 
applicant  was  employed,  the  salary 
he  received,  the  duration  of  his  em- 
ployment, the  reason  for  his  leaving, 
the  length  of  interval  before  the  next 
job,  its  nature,  the  type  of  business 
with  which  it  was  associated,  the 
salary  received,  his  attitude  towards 
the  work  and  the  people,  the  duration 
of  last  employment,  his  reasons  for 
leaving,  the  length  of  the  next  interval 
of  unemployment,  and  so  on  and  on 
up  to  his  present  position,  or  last 
work  at  which  he  was  employed. 
These  details  should  be  taken  per- 
sonally and  not  necessarily  secured  on 
the  employment  blank. 

A  carefully  gotten  work  career 
throws  a  striking  light  upon  the 
personality  of  the  applicant,  and  data 
secured  from  it  can  be  included  under 
your  estimate  of  the  personality  char- 
acteristics of  the  individual.  It  not 
only  indicates  whether  or  not  there 
has  been  a  purpose  and  goal  to  which 
the  individual  has  been  striving,  but 
also  what  degree  of  success  or  failure 
has  he  met.  The  work  career  brings 
out  specialized  interests  and  experi- 
ences, and  becomes,  when  properly 
taken,  a  valuable  index  to  the  future 
work  ability  and  adjustment  of  the 
applicant. 

It  is  important  that  this  phase  of  the 
interview  be  thoroughly  conducted  in 
a  scientific  spirit  and  not  hastily 
brushed  over;  for  no  better  source  is 
available  in  the  entire  investigation 
for  forming  safe  judgments  concerning 
the    individual's    work    adaptability. 

This,  the  work  inquiry,  places  the 
applicant  at  ease,  inasmuch  as  it 
enables  him  to  talk  about  himself  and 
about  things  with  which  he  is  entirely 


Anderson:  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


423 


familiar  and  in  which  he  is  usually 
interested.  It  is  a  good  idea  to  start 
the  interview  at  this  point  of  the 
history. 

B.    PERSOXALITY   STUDY 

The  most  important  phase  of  the 
interview  is  the  inquiry  directly  re- 
lating to  the  personality  make-up  of 
the  applicant. 

Our  first  approach  to  this  problem 
will  be  to  select  certain  fundamental 
aspects  of  human  behavior  and  describe 
them  with  a  view  to  the  evaluation  of 
*'the  whole  individual."  Many  of 
the  characteristic  reactions  are  evoked 
only  through  the  social  environment, 
and  the  interviewer  will  have  to 
depend  upon  the  personal  history,  or 
the  individual's  own  account  of  how 
he  has  met  certain  given  situations, 
in  order  to  judge  the  typical  reactions, 
or  trends,  or  drives,  within  the  in- 
dividual. Often  his  method  of  secur- 
ing adequate  data  to  make  such  judg- 
ments will  have  to  be  indirect  and 
very  general  in  approach.  This  ac- 
count, from  the  individual,  of  his 
attitude  towards  important  problems 
and  his  ways  of  behaving  to  funda- 
mental situations  must  not  be  con- 
fused with  the  many  forms  on  the 
market  for  making  self-estimates  of 
one's  abihty  and  character.  These 
self-ratings  have  proved  unrehable 
both  in  experiment  and  in  daily  life. 
But  the  personal  history,  when  taken 
directly  by  the  thoroughly  trained 
investigator,  brings  to  the  surface 
motives,  attitudes,  and  characteristic 
traits  of  the  personahty  that  un- 
deniably act  as  the  driving  forces  in 
behavior. 

The  value  of  such  data  will,  how- 


ever, depend  upon  the  interviewer's 
powers  of  observation  and  his  facility 
at  analysis  and  interpretation.  This 
will  show  itself  in  his  evaluation  of 
physical  appearance,  significant  atti- 
tudes, bodily  movements,  mannerisms, 
facial  expressions,  voice  moods,  defi- 
nite drives,  mental  patterns,  and  the 
general  symptomology  presented  in 
each  case.  Of  course,  the  better  ac- 
quainted he  is  with  the  clinical  case 
method  of  study,  the  greater  his  diag- 
nostic ability  is  likely  to  be. 

He  should  have  read  Mr.  Shand's 
book  on  the  "Foundations  of  Charac- 
ter"; Dr.  McDougall's  book  on  "Social 
Psychology,"  also  "Abnormal  Psychol- 
ogy," by  the  same  author;  "Social 
Psychology,"  by  Allport;  "The  Trait 
Book,"  by  C.  B.  Davenport;  the 
"Foundations  of  Personahty,"  by 
Meyerson;  White's  "Outline  of  Psy- 
chiatry," also  his  "Foundations  of 
Psychiatry;"  and  he  should  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  mental  hygiene 
hterature  gotten  out  by  the  National 
Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene,  370 
Seventh  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

That  type  of  outline  which  brings 
into  play  those  characteristics  which 
most  readily  may  be  investigated,  will 
be  most  serviceable  to  the  interviewer. 
The  following  traits,  or  main  divisions 
of  the  personahty  are  suggested : 

1.  Intellectual  Activities. 

2.  Motor  Characteristics. 

3.  Temperament. 

4.  Self-Expression. 

5.  Sociability. 

Intelligence 

We  are  all  famihar  with  individuals 
of  superior  intelhgence  who  get  low 
grades  in  school,  or  out  in  life  fail  to 


424 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  EmploAinent 


make  use  of  their  intelligence;  also 
we  know  the  individual  of  dull  intelli- 
gence but  with  a  determined  drive, 
with  ambition  and  industry,  who  gets 
high  marks  in  school  and  makes  a 
reasonable  success  in  life. 

In  other  words,  possession  of  intelli- 
gence, of  quickness  of  perception, 
cleverness  of  learning,  good  memory 
and  adequate  reasoning  ability,  does 
not  imply  successful  adjustment  or 
solution  of  life  problems.  There  are 
others  factors,  namely,  habitual  trends 
of  effort  in  the  direction  of  accomp- 
lishment, or  what  may  be  termed  the 
"drive,"  of  the  personahty,  that  have 
more  to  do  vnih  determining  success 
or  failure  than  the  degree  of  intellec- 
tual development. 

General  intelligence  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  that  ability  or  special 
trait  of  the  personality,  by  reason  of 
which  the  individual  learns  and  comes 
into  possession  of  knowledge  of  his 
environment.  It  may  be  termed  the 
individual's  "problem  solving  abihty," 
or  "reasoning  capacity."  Like  the 
physical  growth  of  the  individual,  the 
intellect  should  progress  from  year  to 
year  in  its  development. 

There  are  certain  practical  questions 
relating  to  the  intelligence,  that  the 
interviewer  should  have  in  mind  when 
he  investigates  this  aspect  of  the 
applicant's  history: 

A.  Is    the    applicant's    education    com- 

mensurate   with    his    opportunity 
for  it? 

B.  Is  he  alert? 

C.  Has  he  seemed  to  learn  from  experi- 

ence or  is  he  naive  and  gullible  and 
repeats  the  same  mistake  over  and 
over? 

D.  Is  he  attentive,  and  does  he  seem  to  fix 

and  hold  his  attention  well? 


K.    Does  he  give  a  consistent,  intelligent, 

well-related  story? 
F.    Does  he  seem  distractible? 
CJ.    How  suggestible  is  he? 
H.  Has    he    any    special    aptitudes,    or 

special  interests? 
I.  Is  his  memory  good? 
J.    Does  he  show  good  common  sense? 

Motor  characteristics 

We  might  include  under  this  cate- 
gory such  traits  as  over-activity, 
under-activity,  speed,  impulsion,  in- 
hibition, tenacity,  skill,  etc.  We  are 
all  of  us  acquainted  with  the  over- 
hasty,  impulsive,  restless,  talkative, 
bustling  type  of  individual,  who  rushes 
through  his  duties  at  great  speed  and 
probably  completes  no  task  thor- 
oughly. Then  there  is  the  slow, 
under-active,  static  individual,  who 
cannot  keep  up  with  the  pace  set  by 
the  normal  worker.  There  are  all 
types  of  modifications  of  these  charac- 
teristics, but  they  ordinarily  are  con- 
stitutional in  origin  and  indicate  the 
motor  set  or  pattern  in  any  given  case. 
Undoubtedly  well-controlled  and  suit- 
ably directed  movements,  free  from 
haste  and  spurts  of  activity,  keyed  to 
a  healthy,  normal  rate  of  speed,  in  the 
long  run  secure  the  best  work  results. 

One  important  thing  to  recognize  is 
that  the  over-active  individual  may 
show  powerful  impulsions  which  drive 
him  to  act  in  order  that  he  may  give 
the  appearance — either  to  himself  or 
others — of  being  in  great  haste  and 
having  much  to  do.  Or,  he  may  show 
over-acti\aty,  due  to  excessive  energy 
output,  free  from  the  normal  inhibi- 
tions that  commonly  are  built  up  in  the 
average  person  to  permit  of  the  wisest 
choice  among  a  group  of  possible  lines 
of  action;  while  the  under-active  per- 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


425 


sonalities  may  exhibit  inertia,  due  to 
limited  energy  output  or  to  powerful 
repressions  and  restraining  inhibitions. 
Questions  in  the  mind  of  the  inter- 
viewer might  be  as  follows: 

A.  Does  the  applicant  display  tension  or 

"push"  in  his  activity? 

B.  Is  he  restless  and  over-active? 

C.  Does  he  seem  inert? 

D.  Does  he  seem  static? 

E.  Is  he    over-talkative,   or    undertalk- 

ative? 

F.  Would  you  judge  his  activity  to  be 

persistent  and  steady?  Or  capri- 
cious? 

G.  Does  his  life  history  indicate  that  he 

has  or  has  not  finished  under- 
takings? 

H.  Does  he  seem  sluggish  or  lazy?  Does 
he  slouch  as  he  walks  or  sits? 

I.     Would  you  judge  him  easily  fatigued? 

J.  Do  you  think  that  he  could  be  speeded 
up  easily?    Or  easily  slowed  down? 

K.  Do  his  movements  seem  well  co- 
ordinated? 

L.    Are  his  posture  and  gait  good? 

M.  Does  he  appear  energetic? 

N.  Would  you  judge  him  to  be  tenacious 
and  persistent  in  the  face  of  ob- 
stacles and  discomfort? 

Temperament 

Feeling  and  emotion  are  exceedingly 
important  constituents  of  personality 
on  the  subjective  side;  as  they  in- 
fluence the  mood  of  the  individual 
they  become  one  of  the  most  important 
subjective  elements  in  his  actual  be- 
havior. The  emotional  attitude  or 
set  colors  the  outlook  and  modifies  the 
individual's  adjustment  possibihties 
far  more  frequently,  and  more  seri- 
ously, than  is  ordinarily  believed  to 
be  the  case.  Their  dynamic  value  in 
the  personality  is  seen  in  the  mechan- 
ism of  reinforcement  and  repression; 
in  pushing  the  individual  into  overt 


behavior,  or  in  inhibiting  tendencies 
to  act  along  certain  lines. 

The  emotional  attitude,  the  emo- 
tional stability,  and  the  degree  of 
control  over  the  feefing  and  emotional 
aspects  of  our  lives,  become  amongst 
the  really  vital  issues  that  influence 
job   adjustment   in    any   given   case. 

It  is  wise  then  for  the  interviewer  to 
acquaint  himself  with  the  psychology 
and  pathology  of  the  emotions,  so  that 
he  may  apply  this  information  in  his 
analysis  of  each  applicant  for  a  job. 
He  can  well  emphasize  this  phase  of 
his  investigation,  particularly  in  con- 
nection with  his  follow-up  work  on  the 
job,  where  he  will  find  that  many  of 
his  impressions  that  seemed  little 
more  than  ''hunches"  have  turned  out 
to  be  dynamic  factors,  which  he  now 
can  investigate  in  their  definite  rela- 
tionship to  the  behavior  of  a  given 
personality  to  work. 

What  we  call  temperament  may 
be  understood  as  the  characteristic 
emotional  level  of  the  individual,  such 
as  the  choleric  type,  the  phlegmatic 
type,  the  sanguine  type,  etc.  The 
leading  question  concerning  any  given 
individual  may  profitably  be, — what 
part  do  emotions  play  in  his  daily  life? 
Some  people  have  a  characteristic 
mood  that  is  very  easily  discerned. 
They  are  of  a  gloomy,  sullen,  sour 
temperament  and  disposition;  or  they 
are  cheerful,  optimistic  and  hopeful; 
suspicious,  timid,  embarrassed,  over- 
sensitive, self-deprecatory;  or  pom- 
pous, or  cynical,  or  snobbish,  or  irate. 
These  moods  and  emotional  attitudes 
greatly  influence  one's  relationship 
with  others,  and  are  very  important 
factors  underlying  work  failure,  or 
work  success. 


426 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


Something  may  be  done  to  change 
the  trend  of  moods,  through  contact 
with  the  individual,  through  an  effort 
to  understand  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  emotional  sets  and  attitudes 
and  through  seeking  to  give  the  in- 
dividual a  different  viewpoint  and 
providing  interests  of  a  healthy  and 
normal  type.  The  results,  of  course, 
will  depend  on  the  intelligence  and 
the  cooperation  of  the  employee,  and 
the  amount  of  time  that  can  be  spent 
in  this  direction. 

The  interviewer  is  to  bear  in  mind 
that  the  significant  impHcations  in 
this  whole  situation  have  to  do  with 
avoiding  the  selection  of  appUcants 
who  exhibit  too  marked  extremes  of 
temperament  and  mood, — the  de- 
pressed, melancholic,  sullen,  irritable 
and  grouchy  person,  as  well  as  the 
extremely  cheerful,  over-optimistic, 
exaggeratingly  enthusiastic  types. 
These  extreme  types  are  unusual  and 
almost  invariably  make  poor  per- 
sonnel risks.  Everyone,  of  course, 
presents  mild  emotional  attitudes  ac- 
compan5dng  his  thoughts  and  actions, 
and  when  these  emotional  attitudes 
become  fixed  and  permanent,  they 
result  in  what  we  call  traits  of 
character. 

Special  characteristics  or  traits  of  self- 
expression 

Extroversion — introversion.  We  have 
here  reference  to  the  tendency  in 
individuals  to  make  external  or  in- 
ternal adjustments.  The  extremely 
introverted  individual  obtains  his  satis- 
factions within  a  world  of  his  own 
making.  Adjustments  to  reahty  of 
an  external  nature  are  interfered  with 
by    emotional    attitudes    and    trends 


within  the  individual  that  block  effec- 
tive overt  behavior.  These  individ- 
uals do  a  lot  of  day-dreaming  as  well 
as  night-dreaming,  where  they  are 
able  to  bring  to  fulfilment  their  re- 
pressed wishes,  or  to  secure  an  adjust- 
ment that  is  satisfactory  to  them. 
The  consequence  is  that  sooner  or 
later  in  many  cases  there  is  actual 
severing  of  a  proper  relation  with 
reality.  ^Mien  the  condition  is 
markedly  pathological,  we  have  the 
beginning  of  a  well-known  mental 
disease — dementia  praecox.  How- 
ever, many  introverts  are  effective, 
brilliant  people,  who  are  able  to  handle 
their  personality  defects  through  com- 
pensations that  enable  them  to  make 
satisfactory  life  adjustments. 

In  introverts,  real  conditions  are 
distorted  in  such  a  way  as  to  satisfy 
the  wishes,  or  cravings,  or  viewpoints 
of  the  individual,  and  an  unreal  and 
unnatural  set  of  values  is  constructed 
out  of  life  to  suit  them.  There  is  an 
intense  personalizing  of  all  events  and 
activities  with  which  they  come  in 
contact  and  they  develop  what  we 
call  "ideas  of  reference,"  in  which 
nearly  ever5i:hing  that  is  said  or  done 
by  others  may  have  a  personal  bear- 
ing. On  this  as  a  background  they 
easily  build  up  persecutory  delusions. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  such  individuals, 
unless  they  are  particularly  capable, 
and  succeed  in  making  satisfactory 
adjustments  in  life  through  the  posses- 
sion of  special  abilities,  tend  to  avoid 
and  run  away  from  the  difficulties  of 
a  dull,  prosaic,  uninteresting  reality, 
or  the  routine  of  daily  work,  through 
the  development  of  imaginary  achieve- 
ments and  satisfactions.  Marked  in- 
troverts,   unless    they    have    secured 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment  427 


some  compensations  through  special- 
ized abihties,  had  better  not  be  em- 
ployed as  a  general  thing,  though  in 
some  jobs  such  as  ''marking"  they 
may  show  good  production.  Of  course 
we  know  that  many  of  our  most  skilled 
mechanics,  best  laboratory  workers, 
and  finest  scholars  are  marked  intro- 
verts. But  here  we  have  compensat- 
ing factors  of  great  saving  value. 

Extroversion  does  not  present  as 
clear-cut  a  personality  type  as  intro- 
version. The  extrovert  lacks  the 
symptoms  of  repression,  over-sensitive- 
ness, unreality,  protracted  day-dream- 
ing, etc.,  exhibited  by  the  introvert, 
and  represents  more  the  normal, 
well-balanced,  well-integrated  per- 
sonahty.  He  makes  contacts  with 
people  quickly^  and  does  not  set  up 
defensory  attitudes  nor  respond  with 
unintelUgible  bursts  of  emotion  or 
inhibitions. 

Both  of  these  conditions,  however, 
are  subject  to  great  modifications 
and  changes  may  be  noted,  through 
environmental  influence,  in  the  tend- 
ency to  introversion  or  extroversion. 
Success,  prosperity,  and  personal  satis- 
faction tend  to  make  the  introvert 
more  extroverted;  while  failure,  dis- 
appointment, and  chagrin  produce  in 
extroverts  inferiorities  and  shut-in 
tendencies,  sensitiveness  and  defensive 
mechanisms.  Extroverts  make  the 
best  salespeople.  Our  own  figures 
show  that  more  than  three-fourths  of 
the  good  salespeople  in  this  store  are 
readily  classifiable  as  extroverts,  while 
more  than  half  of  the  poor  salespeople 
were  easily  diagnosed  as  introverts. 

Introverts  who  possess  good  clerical 
or  mechanical  ability,  and  do  not 
suffer  from  very  serious  personal  or 


home  problems,  may  succeed  well 
along  clerical  or  mechanical  or  alHed 
lines.  In  many  of  the  non-sales 
groups  we  may  well  place  carefully 
selected  applicants  with  introverted 
trends  if  they  do  not  show  serious  dis- 
orders of  the  personality. 

Much  may  be  said  of  the  thera- 
peutic effects  of  certain  jobs  in  de- 
veloping extroverted  tendencies  in 
introverts,  and  thus  adjusting  them 
to  reaUty.  Cases  could  be  given  here 
to  illustrate  the  results  of  our  work 
in  this  direction. 

We  could  continue  along  these  lines 
and  go  on  further  into  a  detailed  dis- 
cussion of  other  personality  classifica- 
tions or  characteristics  of  make-up, 
such  as  dominant  personaUties,  sub- 
missive personalities,  expansive  types, 
reclusive  types,  emotional  types,  ego- 
centric types,  paranoid  types,  and 
inadequate  types.  Each  one  of  these 
classifications  includes  a  symptom 
complex  that  is  peculiarly  distinctive, 
and  has  certain  bearings  upon  the 
clinical  inquiry  for  employment. 

The  paranoid  individual,  for  in- 
stance, with  his  suspicious  nature, 
will  not  do  well  in  team  work,  and 
no  matter  how  much  special  ability 
he  possesses  is  always  liable  to  be  a 
source  of  irritation  and  dissatisfaction 
in  any  closely  organized  group. 

The  egocentric  personality,  if  mark- 
ed, is  very  Hkely  to  be  a  "grabber," 
an  individuahst  and  a  disciplinary 
problem. 

The  reclusive  personality  will  cer- 
tainly not  do  well  in  any  type  of  work 
requiring  contact  with  people, — he 
avoids  people,  is  shut-in,  self-centered 
and  keeps  his  fight  hidden  under  a 
bushel. 


428 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


The  emotional  personality  is  handi- 
capped at  work  through  his  undue 
excitability,  or  his  marked  moodiness 
trend. 

The  inadequate  personality  is  often 
lazy,  indolent,  lacking  in  energy  and 
"pep,"  and  no  matter  whether  he  has 
good  abilities  or  not,  his  production  is 
always  likely  to  be  low. 

It  is  well  for  the  interviewer  to  be 
acquainted  with  the  traits  and  charac- 
teristics comprising  these  classifica- 
tions, and  he  should  read  general  psy- 
chiatric literature,  so  that  he  may 
become  acquainted  with  the  signifi- 
cant impUcations  involved. 

Of  course,  it  is  clear  that  we  are 
referring  to  marked  deviations  from 
the  average  normal  personality 
make-up  when  we  classify  a  per- 
sonality as  being  definitely  ''ego- 
centric," or  "paranoid,"  or  "intro- 
verted," and  the  like.  It  is  obvious 
that  these  extreme  types  are  what  we 
have  in  mind  when  we  warn  the  inter- 
viewer against  the  problems  they 
create. 

Nervous  and  mental  disorders 

We  have  outlined,  in  our  personality 
study,  the  need  of  evaluating  the 
intelligence,  the  temperament  and  the 
volition,  or  motor  characteristics,  or 
will  power,  of  the  applicant.  We  have 
also  mentioned  the  desirability  of 
considering  the  special  traits  of  charac- 
ter that  make  for  certain  personality 
patterns,  or  types.  We  will  now  dis- 
cuss briefly  some  pathological  condi- 
tions that  affect  the  personality  and 
influence  the  applicant's  success  at 
work.  It  is  not  intended  to  cover  all 
of  the  various  forms  of  nervous  and 
mental  disorders,  but  simply  some  of 


the  more  common  conditions  with 
which  the  interviewer  will  come  in 
contact. 

Chronic  alcoholism.  Suffused  eyes, 
prominent  superficial  blood-vessels  of 
nose  and  cheek;  flabby,  bloated  face; 
reddened  aspect  of  the  face,  tremors 
of  the  fingers  and  of  the  tongue, 
tremulous  hand-writing,  etc. 

Drug  addiction.  Peculiar  pallor  of 
the  skin ;  in  opium  users  minutely  con- 
tracted pupils,  while  in  cocaine  users 
widely  dilated  pupils. 

Dementia  praecox.  Indifference, 
withdrawal  from  reality,  ideas  of  refer- 
ence, and  at  times  of  persecution; 
inaccessibility,  peculiar  emotional 
flatness,  eccentric  posture  and  gait,  an 
apparent  gap  between  feeling  and 
doing.  The  individual  appears  de- 
tached, odd,  eccentric.  There  is  often 
a  lack  of  connectedness  in  conversa- 
tion, though  not  always.  Past 
history,  (school  and  work),  and  per- 
sonal career,  will  usually  show  erratic 
and  irrational  conduct.  Of  course, 
the  more  marked  cases  will  complain 
of  their  thoughts  being  controlled  by 
others,  have  marked  delusions  of  per- 
secution, hallucinations  of  hearing, 
and  bodily  hallucinations,  frequently 
of  sexual  or  electrical  character;  will 
exhibit  meaningless  smiles,  and  most 
inappropriate  emotional  reactions. 
Of  course,  all  such  cases  need  clinical 
or  hospital  care. 

Manic  depressive  personalities.  ]\Iild 
depressions,  (with  or  without  feelings 
of  inadequacy),  fatiguabihty,  talka- 
tiveness, marked  over-activity,  periods 
of  exhilaration  and  expansiveness, 
marked  restlessness,  difficulty  in  hold- 
ing attention  on  one  task,  etc.  These 
individuals  have  periods  of  moodiness, 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Emplojonent  429 


"blues,"  inactivity  and  low  work  pro- 
duction^ alternating  with  periods  of 
great  activity,  restlessness,  exhilara- 
tion, etc.  They  get  "knocked  out" 
by  minor  illnesses,  have  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  resting  up,  need  frequent 
vacations,  etc.  They  often  have  good 
intelligence,  and  during  their  well 
periods  may  be  dynamic,  productive 
employees. 

Psychopathic  personalities.  There 
is  a  large  group  of  individuals  who 
cannot  be  classified  as  insane  nor  as 
feebleminded,  but  who,  nevertheless, 
are  incapable  of  behaving  in  a  normal 
and  acceptable  way  in  the  average 
environment.  They  usually  have 
average  or  superior  intelligence,  and 
frequently  have  good  ability,  but  they 
suffer  from  disorders  of  their  per- 
sonality that  so  seriously  handicap 
their  special  talents  as  to  often  unfit 
them  for  much  usefulness  in  society. 
They  form  the  large  body  of  the  so- 
called  "criminal  class."  They  con- 
stitute the  vagrant,  the  tramp,  the 
unemployable  group,  and  the  periodic 
drunks.  Their  emotions  are  usually 
distorted  and  their  life  career  is  more 
nearly  patterned  on  an  instinctive 
basis  than  that  of  the  ordinarily 
socialized  adult. 

The  above  classifications  of  paranoid 
personality,  emotional  personality, 
inadequate  personality,  egocentric 
personality, — when  exhibited  in  a 
marked  degree  constitute  what  we 
call  the  psychopathic  personality.  In 
these  cases  there  is  a  constitutional 
basis,  ordinarily,  for  the  mental  life 
they  exhibit.  This  may  be  either 
hereditary  or  acquired  in  early  child- 
hood. They  are  frequently  very 
suave,  and  make  a  good  first  impres- 
sion. 


The  interviewer  will  notice  in  their 
work  career  and  personal  history  the 
marked  instability  characteristic  of 
these  cases.  Their  employment  is  a 
risk,  but  if  hired  they  require  the 
closest,  most  painstaking  and  under- 
standing follow-up. 

Psycho-neuroses.  Hysteria,  neuras- 
thenia, psychasthenia,  anxiety  neuro- 
ses, and  such  like  states  are  functional 
rather  than  organic  conditions  that 
often  have  no  objective  signs  and  may 
thus  escape  notice.  These  individuals 
commonly  suffer  from  hypochon- 
driacal complaints,  undue  fatigu- 
ability,  marked  "nervousness,"  in- 
ability to  concentrate  attention  for 
any  length  of  time,  irritable  weakness, 
pessimistic  moods;  they  pay  a  great 
deal  of  attention  to  the  function  of 
their  bodily  organs,  they  have  periods 
characterized  by  heart  palpitation, 
difficulty  in  breathing,  profuse  per- 
spiration, trembling,  shaking,  dis- 
turbances in  appetite,  dizziness,  diar- 
rhea, etc.  Of  course,  not  all  of  these 
symptoms  are  presented  in  any  one 
patient,  but  the  conditions  from  which 
these  individuals  suffer  are  mental  in 
origin.  They  often  can  be  adjusted 
under  proper  treatment,  and  are  found 
frequently  in  perfectly  good  em- 
ployees. But  unless  suitable  treat- 
ment is  instituted,  these  people  sooner 
or  later  become  serious  personnel 
risks,  and  the  disorders  from  which 
they  suffer  definitely  lower  their  pro- 
duction ability.  Rest,  sympathy  and 
medical  treatment  at  the  level  of  their 
physical  complaints  is  just  the  thing 
they  do  not  need.  These  are  all  ad- 
justment problems  that  must  be  dealt 
with  as  psychiatric  cases.  They  had 
better  not  be  employed  to  begin  with, 
but  when  found  among  regular  em- 


430 


Anderson  :  Psj^chiatric  Guide  for  EmplojTiient 


ployees  they  should  at  once  be  re- 
ferred to  the  psychiatrist. 

Epilepsy.  Epileptics  are  not  very 
easy  to  diagnose  at  the  time  of  the 
interview.  Thej'  frequently  deny  seiz- 
ures altogether  and  in  the  history 
they  often  present  nothing  more  than 
severe  nightmares,  dizzy  spells,  severe 
headaches,  spells  of  weakness,  etc. 
Their  personalities  are  usually  dis- 
tinctly abnormal;  they  have  violent 
and  irritable  spells,  often  over  the 
most  trivial  causes.  They  have 
marked  likes  and  dislikes,  peculiar 
defects  in  memory,  poor  retention, 
and  their  behavior  is  unpredictable. 
They  often  have  very  difficult  per- 
sonahties  and  are  egocentric  in 
make-up.  Their  convulsive  seizures 
render  them  a  very  poor  personnel  risk. 

Feeblemindedness  or  mental  de- 
ficiency. This  condition  is  due  to  an 
arrest  in  mental  development.  The 
mind  fails  to  grow  commensurately 
with  the  body  and  there  is  a  dispro- 
portion in  the  actual  age  and  the 
mental  age  of  the  individual.  They 
have  the  judgment,  reasoning  ability, 
learning  capacity  and  understanding 
of  children  under  eleven  years  of  age. 
As  a  consequence  they  are  unable  to 
compete  in  life  with  the  average 
normal  man  or  woman.  These  mental 
defectives  are  best  discovered  through 
psychological  tests.  They  are  often 
good  workers  and  may  make  the  most 
satisfactory  employees  if  free  from 
handicapping  personality  disorders 
and  placed  in  a  type  of  work  specially 
suited  to  their  limitations. 

Individuals  securing  an  intelligence 
cjuotient  between  CO  and  70  show 
l:)orderline  intelligence,  while  those 
under  60  have  defective  intelligence. 


Of  course,  this  pre-supposes  that  the 
question  of  language  difficulties  in  the 
case  of  the  foreign  born,  and  patho- 
logical conditions  that  produce  mental 
deterioration  or  confusion  or  great 
distractability,  etc.^  have  been  duly 
considered  in  drawing  conclusions  from 
the  results  of  the  psychological  tests. 

NEED    FOR    SOME    TECHNICAL    KNOWL- 
EDGE     ON      THE      PART      OF      THE 
INTERVIEWER 

All  the  above  mental  conditions 
are  just  mentioned  in  passing  in  the 
most  summary  fashion.  The  inter- 
viewer should  carefully  study  such 
text-books  as  "VMiite's  "Outlines  of 
Psychiatry,"  Henry's  "Essentials  of 
Psychiatry,"  White's  "Foundations  of 
Psychiatry,"  and  other  such  psychi- 
atric literature  in  order  to  get  a  more 
technical  acquaintance  with  the  symp- 
tomatology of  nervous  and  mental 
conditions.  No  specifications  or  out- 
line or  guide  can  give  him  an  adequate 
background  for  interpreting  each  case. 
This  must  be  an  outcome  of  his  own 
gro\\i;h,  through  reading,  study  and 
actual  work. 

PHYSICAL   CONDITION 

About  9  per  cent  of  those  examined 
physically  for  employment  are  re- 
jected because  of  physical  defects  or 
disorders  that  make  them  unprofitable 
risks.  Heart  and  blood  vessel  condi- 
tions lead  the  list, — causing  about 
26  per  cent  of  rejections.  Such  condi- 
tions as  diseased  tonsils,  hernia,  very 
bad  teeth,  extremely  defective  vision 
or  hearing,  may  cause  rejection  by  the 
physical  examiner.  But  there  are  a 
host  of  physical  conditions  that  more 
or  less  modify  the  physical  health  or 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


431 


efficiency  of  the  worker, — nutritional 
disturbances,  glandular  disorders,  flat 
feet,  dysmenorrhea,  kidney  condi- 
tions, chronic  rhinitis,  sinus  trouble, 
etc. 

The  common  causes  of  illness,  such 
as  infections  of  the  upper  respiratory 
tract,  indigestion,  and  functional  dis- 
turbances of  the  nervous  system, 
cannot  be  traced  directly  to  defects 
that  can  be  found  by  routine  physical 
examinations. 

Dr.  Swan  has  shown,  however, 
"that  a  very  definite  relation  exists 
between  the  physical  condition  of  em- 
ployees and  absenteeism.  Employees 
who  need  dental  work,  who  have  un- 
corrected errors  of  refraction,  who  are 
more  than  15  per  cent  over  or  under 
weight,  or  who  have  some  other  defect 
that  many  people  may  consider  un- 
important, are  sick  more  often,  and 
therefore  absent  more  than  those  who 
are  in  good  physical  condition." 
"Employees  who  have  organic  heart 
lesions,  hernias  and  serious  defects 
are  absent  42  per  cent  more  than  those 
in  good  physical  condition.  The 
relationship  is  largely  indirect;  the 
disability  as  a  general  rule  not  being 
the   direct  cause  of  the  absence." 

SUGGESTED  OUTLINE  FOR  PERSONALITY 

STUDY 

I.  Facial  expression.  Does  the  ap- 
phcant  look  fearful,  anxious,  appre- 
hensive, shy,  timid,  sad,  gay,  surly, 
hostile,  suspicious,  visionary,  gullible, 
expressionless,  intent,  alert,  eager, 
arrogant,  cynical,  fatigued,  interested, 
indifferent,  resistive,  supercilious,  etc., 
etc.? 

II.  Movements.  Are  there  move- 
ments of  the  head,  of  the  face,  of  the 


body,  of  the  hands,  of  the  feet?  Are 
there  rhythmic  quiverings  of  the 
mouth?  Are  there  wrinklings  of  the 
forehead,  peculiar  facial  expressions, 
peculiar  attitudes  of  the  body,  nervous 
twitchings  of  the  hands,  licking  of 
the  hps,  biting  of  the  nails,  idling 
with  pencils  and  paper,  etc. 

III.  General  observations.  Does  the 
employee  speak  voluntarily  to  the 
interviewer  of  his  own  problems,  in- 
terests, and  ambitions?  Does  he  talk 
freely  and  intelligently?  Does  he  give 
a  related  story?  Does  he  make  a  good 
first  impression?  Does  he  seem  well- 
developed  and  well-nourished?  Is  his 
color  good?  Does  he  appear  well- 
dressed  and  neat?  Is  he  careful  about 
his  clothes?  Does  he  make  a  good 
contact?  Does  he  appear  to  be  full 
of  problems  of  an  emotional  nature? 
Does  he  seek  a  listener,  and  seem 
anxious  to  talk  about  his  troubles? 
Does  he  appear  self-centered?  Does 
he  crave  sympathy,  etc.,  etc.? 

IV.  Speech.  Is  the  voice  well- 
modulated,  full,  resonant,  pleasing? 
Or  is  it  pinched,  small,  strained?  Or 
loud,  harsh,  irritating?  Does  he  stam- 
mer, or  slur  words,  or  lisp,  etc.? 

V.  Mental  attitude  towards  work. 
Give  details  of  the  attitude  shown  by 
individual  toward  the  jobs  he  has  held 
in  the  past,  and  his  reasons  for  leaving 
them;  his  eagerness  to  secure  other 
work,  how  definitely  decided  he  is  on 
the  present  job  under  consideration; 
his  attitude  towards  the  nature  of 
work  it  calls  for;  his  vocational  in- 
terests and  work  ambition,  etc. 

VI.  Mental  attitude  toward  authority 
and  associates.  It  is  wise  to  make 
judgments  of  the  applicant  along 
these  lines,  inasmuch  as  the  inability 


432 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


to  take  directions  from  those  in  charge, 
to  work  carefully  under  supervision, 
or  to  get  along  with  one's  associates 
is  an  important  cause  of  resignations 
and  lay-offs. 

VII.  Mental  attitude  toward  hotne 
relationships.  Is  there  friction,  or 
worry,  or  difficulties  of  a  psychological 
or  financial  nature  at  home?  If  so, 
how  do  they  affect  the  individual,  and 
his  attitude  towards  them? 

VIII.  Menial  attitude  toward  himself 
and  his  own  personal  make-up.  How 
does  he  feel  about  his  own  personal 
defects  and  disorders?  Does  he  com- 
plain much?  Does  he  over-react, 
taking  the  whole  thing  too  seriously? 
Does  he  feel  inferior,  or  ashamed,  or 
shy,  or  timid,  or  superior  and  well 
satisfied  with  himself,  etc.?  What  is 
his  attitude  towards  his  own  failures 
or  achievements? 

IX.  Psychoneurotic  states.  Such 
people  complain  of  undue  fatiguability 
or  irritable  weakness  or  inability  to 
concentrate  attention  for  a  very  long 
period  of  time,  pessimistic  moods, 
subjective  disturbances  of  the  nature 
of  difficulty  in  breathing,  profuse  per- 
spiration, trembling,  shaking,  dis- 
turbances in  appetite,  dizziness,  diar- 
rhea, etc.  These  cases  pay  more  or 
less  continuous  attention  to  their 
bodily  functions,  their  attitude  being 
to  no  small  extent  fostered  by  the 
undue  sympathy  received,  or  by  med- 
ical treatment  on  the  physical  level, 
which  in  many  cases  centers  the 
patient's  attention  on  his  bodily  func- 
tions. 

X.  Psychotic  states. 

XL  Other  mental  conditions.  Pecu- 
liar ideas  or  feelings  of  uncertainty  or 
doubts,  memory  defects  and  other  un- 
definable  miscellaneous  conditions. 


XII.  Recreation. 

XIII.  Sununary  of  the  personality 
traits  or  characteristics  (having  spe- 
cifically in  mind  the  qualities  or  traits 
suited  to  the  job  in  question). 

HOME    PROBLEMS 

It  is  important  to  know  whether  the 
indi\'idual  lives  at  home  or  away  from 
home;  whether  his  family  is  partially 
dependent  or  totally  dependent  upon 
him.  WTiat  is  the  nature  of  the  home 
problems  he  has?  One  usually  asks 
whether  father  or  mother  are  living, 
or  dead;  in  good  health  or  poor  health; 
divorced  or  separated,  or  living  to- 
gether; whether  the  father  is  employed, 
and  if  so,  the  nature  of  his  employ- 
ment. The  same  for  the  mother. 
Number  of  brothers  and  sisters,  their 
ages;  number  at  work.  Where  the 
residence  of  family  is,  etc. 

Is  the  applicant  single  or  married? 
If  married,  how  many  children?  What 
is  the  economic  status?  Are  there 
home  problems, — if  so,  of  what  char- 
acter? 

It  is  obvious  that  difficulties  in  the 
home  may  influence  seriously  the 
mental  life  of  the  employee;  bringing 
on  depression  or  day-dreaming;  may 
affect  his  attendance  or  his  production ; 
may  be  the  most  important  factor 
requiring  him  to  stick  at  work,  or 
the  greatest  cause  of  his  resignation. 
A  short  outline  of  the  home  situation 
should  be  routinely  taken. 

EVALUATION    OF    THE    PSYCHOLOGICAL 
STUDY 

From  the  point  of  view  of  measuring 
certain  abilities  involved  in  the  per- 
formance of  certain  jobs,  the  psycho- 
logical method  of  testing  is  in  many 
respects  superior  to  general  observa- 


Anderson:  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment  433 


tion,  or  to  personal  opinion,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  an  objective,  and  thus  a  more 
accurate  way  of  measuring  behavior. 
It  does  not  depend  upon  the  subjective 
impressions  of  the  examiner,  which 
may  vary  from  time  to  time  in  the 
same  individual,  and  certainly  will 
vary  considerably  with  different  ex- 
aminers. The  results  can  be  com- 
pared with  those  obtained  in  previous 
studies  of  the  same  individual,  or  of 
other  individuals,  and  standards  of 
achievement  can  be  established. 

Unfortunately,  we  cannot  measure 
the  total  reactions  and  potentialities 
of  the  entire  human  personality,  so 
that  the  method  necessarily  is  limited 
in  its  value  as  a  basis  for  foretelling 
the  adjustments  of  a  given  person. 
There  are,  however,  some  aspects  of 
the  total  situation  that  are  in  a  way 
measurable.  What  we  popularly  call 
general  intelligence  (or  mental  alert- 
ness), learning  ability,  speed,  accu- 
racy, motor  dexterity,  knowledge  of 
arithmetic,  etc.,  are  subject  to  the 
experimental  method  of  the  labora- 
tory, and  the  results  achieved  already 
in  measuring  these  mental  processes 
are  usually  quite  superior  to  the 
generalizations  of  most  examiners. 

Consequently^  psychological  tests 
properly  administered  can  become  a 
tremendous  aid  to  the  well-trained 
interviewer,  in  helping  him  diagnose 
the  abilities,  the  disabilities,  and  the 
adjustabilities  of  an  applicant.  They 
do  not  claim,  however,  more  than 
they  can  actually  accomplish.  They 
can  give  an  individual  a  score  in  motor 
dexterity,  or  in  accuracy,  or  in  speed 
of  reaction,  or  in  apropriateness  of 
reaction,  or  in  general  intelligence, — 
but    these    scores    alone    cannot    tell 


whether  an  individual  has  it  in  him  to 
make  a  good  cashier,  or  a  good  marker, 
or  a  good  clerical  worker,  or  a  good 
driver,  etc.  These  are  issues  far 
more  complex  than  the  mere  pos- 
session of  abilities  to  perform  the 
task  required, — issues  that  are  only 
understood  through  a  well-rounded, 
thorough-going  clinical  study  of  the 
total  individual,  the  entire  personality. 
This  we  have  outlined  in  the  foregoing 
pages. 

It  is  through  the  utilization  of  the 
psychological  test  method  as  an  ad- 
junct to  the  interview  that  the  appli- 
cant's potentialities  can  best  be  deter- 
mined. We  will  bear  in  mind  that  a 
high  score  in  intelligence  does  not 
necessarily  mean  success  at  work,  nor  a 
low  score  in  intelligence  signify  failure. 
We  will  want  to  know  about  the 
"drive"  within  the  individual,  his  real 
interest  in  the  proposed  job,  the 
make-up  of  his  personality  and  its 
fitness  for  the  work  to  be  done,  the 
physical  health,  the  mental  attitude, 
the  work  experience,  etc.,  in  every 
given  case.  The  individual  may  be 
rated  "good"  in  all  special  ability 
tests,  and  make  a  tremendous  failure 
on  the  job  because  of  the  personality 
trends  and  difficulties  that  handicap 
him.  He  may  be  rated  only  "fair" 
in  certain  ability  tests,  and  yet  have 
the  tenacity,  industry,  and  ambition 
that  ultimately  win. 

In  our  own  work,  psychological  tests 
play  a  very  definite,  and  sometimes 
important  part.  They  are  used  as 
clinical  aids  to  bring  out  certain 
reactions  and  tendencies  that  our  job 
analysis  and  job  specification  study 
have  indicated  to  be  factors  of  con- 
siderable importance  in  performing  the 


434  Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


task,  but  we  do  not  ask  or  expect 
more  of  them  than  they  are  intended 
to  give. 

It  can  be  seen  from  our  previous 
remarks  that  there  can  be  no  greater 
fallacy  than  to  put  the  interview  on 
one  side,  and  the  laboratory  method 
of  measurement  on  the  other, — as 
though  they  are  to  be  considered 
opposing  methods  of  approach  to  the 
evaluation  of  the  same  factors  in  the 
mental  and  physical  make-up  of  the 
applicant.  They  must  be  viewed  as 
two  different  aspects  of  the  same 
examination, — the  quahtative  and 
the  quantitative  viewpoints.  Certain 
phases  of  the  study  can  be  best  gotten 
through  a  quahtative,  or  cHnical  in- 
quiry; while  other  aspects  may  be 
measured  quantitatively.  They  go  to- 
gether, however,  to  make  a  whole,  and 
the  employment  technique,  as  we  see 
it,  is  not  complete  without  both. 

Our  own  procedure  at  Macy's  pro- 
vides for  giving  to  each  job  certain 
criteria  and  setting  certain  standards 
in  the  way  of  intelhgence  or  accuracy, 
or  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  or  speed, 
etc.,  which  we  expect  to  be  met  by 
applicants  seeking  employment.  Our 
job  specifications,  which  are  in  the 
hands  of  each  interviewer,  indicate  the 
ratings  set  for  each  one  of  these 
items. 

The   following   criteria  for   cashiers 
will  illustrate  this  point: 

Cashiers'  criteria 

1.  Ages.  From  17  to  25  are  the  best, 
preferably  between  20  and  25,  except  part- 
time  married  women,  who  may  be  between 
25  and  30.  Young  married  women  do 
better  in  part-time  work  than  single  girls. 
2.  Schooling.  Grammar  School  gradu- 
ates are  required.  The  further  up  or  down 
the  scale,  the  greater  frequency  of  problems. 


3.  Personality.  Good  attitude  is  essen- 
tial. Those  suffering  from  serious  con- 
flicts, the  "so-called  nervous  types,"  those 
with  emotional  maladjustments,  wrong 
mental  attitudes  and  seriously  faulty  ways 
of  meeting  their  problems;  those  who  day- 
dream or  indulge  unduly  in  reverie,  par- 
ticularly of  a  pessimistic  nature, — are  liable 
to  make  errors  and  be  slow  in  their  transac- 
tions as  cashiers.  The  well-integrated, 
well-focused,  objective  types  who  are  alert, 
vigorous  and  free  from  too  much  intro- 
spection; those  who  can  develop  a  high 
degree  of  organic  tension  and  maintain  it 
constantly  during  work, — make  the  best 
cashiers. 

4.  Physical  conditions.  Vigorous,  healthy 
girls,  neither  too  fat  nor  too  thin,  free  from 
any  debilitating  conditions  or  tendency  to 
fatigue,  with  good  muscular  development, 
make  the  best  physical  types.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  eyes  as  to  vision  and  muscular 
balance  is  essential  to  consider.  Also  any 
condition  of  hands,  wrists  or  arms,  that 
may  handicap  or  limit  freedom  of  movement 
and  motor  dexterity,  must  be  looked  into. 

5.  Home  conditions.  Serious  home  con- 
ditions, particularly  serious  illness  or  do- 
mestic difficulties  other  than  financial  are 
apt  to  produce  what  is  called  day-dreaming 
and  error  making. 

6.  Intelligence.  Intelligence  quotients 
between  90  and  110  produce  the  largest 
proportion  of  satisfactory  cashiers.  I 
should  not  take  any  with  an  I.Q.  under 
80  unless  the  job  tests  and  the  rest  of  the 
study  indicates  well-developed  specialized 
ability  and  I  would  scrutinize  carefully 
those  over  110  as  the  latter  are  apt  to  get 
dissatisfied  with  the  opportunities  for  ad- 
vancement. Still,  the  social  status  is  an 
important  consideration,  as  many  bright 
girls  come  from  homes  where  a  Jcashiering 
job  would  be  quite  an  acceptable  social 
achievement. 

7.  Speed.  Those  marked  "poor"  in 
speed  should  always  be  turned  down,  no 
matter  what  the  other  findings  are.  Either 
"good"  or  "fair"  speed  may  be  acceptable. 

8.  Accuracy.  Do  not  accept  any  one 
marked  "poor,"  or  even  "fair,"  in  accuracy. 
Demand  "good"  for  a  rating.  Otherwise, 
error  makers  will  get  in. 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment  435 


9.  Learning.  Either  "good"  or  "fair" 
is  acceptable. 

10.  Arithmetic.  Either  "good"  or  "fair" 
is  acceptable.  Turn  down  those  marked 
"poor." 

11.  Motor  dexterity.  Preferably  those 
rated  "good." 

Of  course^  the  final  interpretation 
of  all  findings  becomes  an  individual 
matter,  for  which  fixed  and  written 
standards  cannot  be  set,  and  nmnerical 
ratings  of  the  entire  study  not  adapt- 
able. 

The  above  is  the  kind  of  an  outline 
that  the  interviewer  is  to  have  in 
mind  as  a  mould  into  which  he  seeks 
to  fit  the  apphcant  for  the  job  of 
cashier.  We  have  developed  the  same 
sort  of  standards  and  specifications 
for  other  jobs  within  the  store. 

SUMMING  UP  THE  DATA  AS  A  BASIS  FOR 
DIAGNOSIS 

It  may  be  seen  from  the  foregoing 
outHne  of  methods  which  we  have  sug- 
gested should  be  employed  in  conduct- 
ing the  examination  of  an  applicant 
for  a  job,  that  a  fairly  careful  and 
well-thought-out  technique  is  desir- 
able, if  we  are  going  to  evaluate  the 
really  important  factors  involved  in 
the  individual's  success  as  an  employee. 

The  interviewer's  genius  in  selecting 
the  right  sort  of  people  will  frankly 
depend  upon  his  abihty  to  sense  the 
important  issues,  as  he  brings  together 
the  various  facts  gleaned  from  the 
personal  history,  the  personality  study, 
the  home  inquiry,  and  the  psycho- 
logical examination,  into  his  brief  and 
clear  summary  of  the  case.  Sound 
judgments  and  accurate  predictions 
cannot  be  accomplished  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye.    A  routine  systematic 


procedure  that  involves  a  critical  in- 
quiry into  every  phase  of  the  whole 
examination,  and  a  thoughtful  balanc- 
ing of  every  factor  that  goes  to  make 
up  the  final  picture  of  the  total  in- 
dividual, develops  in  the  interviewer 
what  may  be  called  a  diagnostic 
acumen. 

He  is  concerned  fundamentally  with 
making  a  prognosis  in  the  case  of  each 
applicant.  His  own  mental  attitude 
is  quite  important,  and  essentially 
different  from  that  which  he  assumes  to 
the  individual  he  has  already  employed 
and  is  following  up  in  his  efforts  to 
adjust  to  the  job.  In  the  former 
instance,  he  must  remove  himself  from 
any  emotional  attachment  that  may 
interfere  with  his  judgment;  while  in 
the  latter  instance,  he  may  very  well 
allow  sympathy  and  personal  interest 
to  play  a  part,  as  they  sometimes  will 
drive  him  to  harder  work,  in  prevent- 
ing or  overcoming  maladjustments 
that  lead  to  resignations  or  lay-off. 

Of  course,  his  ability  to  group  to- 
gether all  the  important  facts  or  symp- 
toms and  make  a  diagnosis  will  depend 
upon  his  knowledge  of  human  be- 
havior in  its  abnormal,  as  well  as 
normal,  aspects  and  his  experience  in 
applying  such  information  in  connec- 
tion with  actual  work  situations.  In 
the  final  analysis,  he  shows  his  genius 
in  the  ability  demonstrated  in  sum- 
ming up  and  evaluating  the  data  he 
has  obtained. 

FOLLOW-UP    ON    NEW    EMPLOYEES 

The  follow-up  and  adjustment  end 
of  employment  work  becomes,  to  our 
mind,  probably  the  most  fundamental 
phase  of  the  interviewer's  work.  The 
lack  of  a  routine,  systematic,  and  well- 


436 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


planned  follow-up  program  is,  in  our 
opinion,  one  of  the  greatest  short- 
comings in  present  day  employment 
technique.  We  have  found  nowhere 
in  our  personnel  routine  here  at 
Macy's,  a  procedure  that  measures  up 
to  what  could  reasonably  be  ac- 
complished in  this  direction.  And  yet, 
the  largest  percentage  of  our  turnover, 
it  is  generally  agreed,  occurs  during 
the  first  three  or  four  weeks  after  em- 
ployment— that  critical  period  during 
which  the  new  employee  will  naturally 
find  it  difficult  to  adapt  himself  to 
his  new  job  en\aronment.  It  should 
be  obvious  to  us  that  this  is  the  time 
for  close  scrutiny  and  the  sort  of 
helpful  aid  that  is  definitely  based,  not 
upon  a  guess  of  what  the  problems  are 
in  a  given  case,  but  upon  a  reasonable 
knowledge  of  the  actual  situation  and 
the  individual  personal  issues  that 
underlie  potential  work  maladjust- 
ments. 

Securing  people  who  are  potentially 
"fairly  good"  is  not  a  seriously  difficult 
task  in  employment  technique.  But 
developing  and  adjusting  them,  and 
finally  retaining  them,  is  another 
matter.  Here  is  a  responsibility  that, 
as  we  see  it^  is  distinctly  a  concern  of 
the  Employment  Department,  as  we 
shall  point  out  later  on. 

Many  issues  that  bring  about  work 
and  personality  maladjustments  are 
already  present,  and  must  necessarily 
be  present  at  the  time  of  hiring.  For 
we  have  made  quite  clear  the  impossi- 
bility of  our  ever  being  able  to  secure 
what  may  be  classed  as  absolutely 
"good"  material  for  every  job;  there 
is  not  enough  to  go  around.  The 
great  majority  of  our  new  employees 
wall  in  the  final  analysis  have  to  be 


rated  as  only  "fair"  material;  a  small 
proportion  will  be  distinctly  "good" 
high-grade  stuff.  Our  interviewers 
will  recognize  and  fully  assess  these 
matters,  and  in  their  close  follow-up 
will  bear  in  mind  the  adaptabiUties 
and  disabilities  of  each  individual,  and 
the  potentialities  for  failure  that  may 
lurk  in  many  a  fairly  promising  em- 
ployee. They  will  understand  these 
matters  and  seek  to  deal  adequately 
and  effectively  with  each  case,  in 
order  to  forestall  resignations,  drops, 
and  lay-offs.  For  this  is  the  road 
to  the  reduction  of  turnover — not 
through  dependence  alone  upon  correct 
selection  at  the  time  of  employment. 
This  is  a  prevention  program,  in 
which  the  reduction  of  work  failures 
is  largely  brought  about  through  an 
intensive  follow-up  and  adjustment 
regime,  immediately  following  upon 
employment  and  placement.  This  is  a 
program  that  requires  a  change  of 
emphasis  from  a  hypothetically  per- 
fect hiring  technique  in  selecting  just 
exactly  the  right  person  for  each  job, 
into  a  developing  and  adjusting  tech- 
nique of  improving  human  individuals 
and  making  them  of  greater  value  to 
themselvs,  their  employers,  and  the 
community  in  which  they  live.  This 
is  much  cheaper  and  certainly  more 
profitable  from  a  human  viewpoint 
than  the  simple  hiring  and  firing 
policy  so  commonly  in  use. 

Upon  whose  shoulders  shall  fall 
the  responsibility  for  this  follow-up 
program?  It  is  our  belief  that  the 
interviewer,  who  has  originally  diag- 
nosed the  work  potentiahties  in  each 
case,  who  has  gone  over  every  phase 
of  the  applicant's  qualifications  and 
disqualifications  for  the  job  in  ques- 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


437 


tion,  and  who  understands  the  peculiar 
personnel  problems  presented  by  each 
personaUty  he  has  employedj  is  the 
one  person  best  equipped  to  follow-up 
each  new  employee  intelhgently  with 
a  view  to  work  adjustment.  His 
knowledge,  secured  at  the  time  of  em- 
ployment, relating  to  individual  and 
personal  factors  involved  in  work  ad- 
justment that  may  lead  to  success  or 
failure,  will  enable  him  to  anticipate 
maladjustments^  to  detect  early  diffi- 
culties, and  often  prevent  actual  sepa- 
ration of  the  individual  from  the  job. 

It  must  not  be  thought,  however, 
that  the  interviewer  will  have  either 
the  time  or  the  equipment  to  make  an 
adequate  psychiatric  analysis  and 
undertake  anything  like  satisfactory 
treatment  work  on  problem  cases, 
particularly  those  of  the  more  complex 
types.  Nor  must  it  be  felt  that  with 
the  application  of  this  technique  we 
will  no  longer  have  any  problems  in 
the  store.  We  have  here  exactly  the 
same  situation  that  we  would  have 
following  a  careful  and  thorough- 
going physical  examination  regime  for 
employment.  Ruling  out  the  physi- 
cally handicapped  does  not  imply 
that  those  who  are  accepted  are  never 
going  to  have  any  disturbances  in 
health.  It  is  quite  likely  that  Macy's 
hospital  work  will  continue  to  increase, 
despite  the  perfection  of  the  initial 
employment  physical  examination. 

People  will  become  mentally  ill 
under  stressful  situations  despite  the 
fact  that  they  have  in  the  past  been 
usually  well  adjusted.  Personality 
difficulties,  loss  of  interest  (due  to 
serious  mental  conflicts),  anxiety 
states,  irrational  reveries,  etc.,  will 
develop  in  people  who  previously  had 
never  presented  such  problems. 


The  value  of  our  technique,  here 
discussed,  is  not  in  its  provision  for 
the  interviewer  to  handle  these  more 
serious  disorders  of  the  personality 
and  endeavor  to  treat  them,  or  just  to 
recognize  them  and  have  the  indi- 
viduals laid  off  as  is  now  so  commonly 
done,  but  to  see  the  significant  treat- 
ment possibilities  in  each  case,  to 
detect  such  types  of  cases  throughout 
the  store.  Much  in  the  way  of  actual 
psychiatric  treatment  and  preven- 
tion may  be  accomplished  by  early 
reference  to  the  psychiatrist  for  well- 
rounded  study   and  treatment. 

All  of  our  work  has  gone  to  prove 
that  through  catching  these  malad- 
justments early  in  the  employee's 
store  career,  and  setting  in  motion 
the  type  of  adjustment  machinery 
with  which  Macy  is  now  equipped,  we 
are  going  to  cut  down  enormously  on 
our  turnover  problems  and  raise  the 
production  capacity  of  otherwise  po- 
tentially problem  cases. 

In  the  past,  through  ignorance  of 
the  implications  of  a  psychiatric  view- 
point in  many  work  maladjustments, 
it  has  in  some  quarters  been  considered 
a  reflection  on  the  personnel  worker's 
professional  ability  if  he  had  to  refer 
cases  for  psychiatric  study  and  treat- 
ment. And  he  has  often  considered 
the  wisdom  of  comparing  his  judg- 
ments with  those  of  the  Conference 
Office.  The  more  one  understands  of 
psychiatric  work,  the  more  one  will 
see  the  futility  of  such  an  attitude. 
For  the  reverse  is  really  true  inasmuch 
as  the  well-trained  psychiatric  social 
worker  invariably  uses  the  psychiatrist 
in  the  study  and  treatment  of  all  his 
problem  cases.  For  his  interests  are 
to  improve,  adjust,  and  develop 
people,   and   not   simply  to   pass  an 


438 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  EmplojTnent 


opinion  on  given  cases,  or  to  compare 
judgments  as  to  how  certain  people 
size  up.  In  short,  a  large  part  of  the 
evidence  of  the  psychiatric  inter- 
viewer's insight  into  the  personality 
problems  involved  in  work  adjust- 
ments among  new  employees,  will  be 
measured  by  the  frequency  with  which 
he  refers  cases  to  the  psychiatrist  for 
further  study  and  possible  adjustment 
work. 

It  is  important  that  we  get  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  real  values  that 
are  to  ensue  from  a  properly  organized 
follow-up  system.  These  values  are 
not  to  be  seen  alone  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  new  employee,  for  the  inter- 
viewer himself  becomes  the  greatest 
beneficiary.  It  becomes  possible  now 
for  the  first  time  to  see  his  diagnostic 
abihty  directly  put  into  practice.  For 
now  he  is  able  to  witness  the  results  of 
his  initial  judgments  and  secure  a  self- 
criticism  on  his  diagnostic  technique. 

There  can  be  no  growth  in  diagnos- 
ing the  work  adjustment  and  possi- 
bihties  of  applicants,  unless  the 
diagnostician  has  a  chance  to  check 
up  on  his  errors  and  mistakes,  and 
unless  he  is  able  to  secure  a  continually 
better  insight  into  the  problems  fur- 
nished by  the  job  environments  for 
which  he  is  employing.  This  seK- 
criticism  and  technique  analysis,  plus 
the  additional  information  about  the 
department  and  its  needs,  will  always 
furnish  the  interviewer  a  fresh  and 
growing  approach  to  his  prol^Iem,  and 
tend  to  make  his  work  more  pro- 
fessional. 

RECORD    KEEPING 

It  is  an  old  and  trite  statement  that 
our  records  become  the  heart  of  our 


case  work.  There  is  no  real  growth 
without  orderly,  systematic,  and  well- 
kept  records  on  every  case.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  interviewer  should 
have  some  well-planned  method  of 
recording  certain  detailed  information 
about  each  individual  he  employs 
(what  are  their  outstanding  problems, 
and  what  happens  to  them?)  if  he  is 
to  do  really  effective  work. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  method 
adopted  be  as  simple  and  as  free  from 
unnecessary  details  as  possible.  It 
is  quite  out  of  the  question  to  go  into 
the  case  in  the  same  thorough-going 
way  that  the  psychiatrist  has  to  em- 
ploy in  unravelling  problem  cases,  and 
to  keep  a  detailed  record  on  each  case 
for  purposes  of  research  work  into  the 
causes  of  maladjustments  amongst 
employees,  as  the  psychiatrist  is  re- 
quired to  do. 

The  nature  of  the  record  employed 
by  the  interviewer  is  to  be  thought  of 
more  as  a  simple  card,  on  which  will 
be  placed  certain  essential  data  that 
will  guide  him  concerning  his  case. 

When  an  applicant  is  employed,  the 
findings  in  the  particular  case,  includ- 
ing the  psychological  data,  and  all  of 
the  essential  facts  obtained  in  the 
cHnical  interview,  should  be  recorded 
in  a  few  words  on  the  "record  card" 
that  is  to  be  kept  by  the  interviewer 
on  his  own  desk.  He  should  record 
on  this  card  all  of  his  follow-up  data 
on  the  individual.  He  should  also 
keep  a  loose  leaf  note-book,  in  which 
he  will  write  in  more  detail  the  infor- 
mation he  secures  in  his  follow-up 
work  on  the  case,  so  as  to  guide  him 
during  his  period  of  contact  with  the 
new  employee.  This  information, 
naturally,   cannot   be  placed  on  the 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


439 


record  card,  except  in  a  most  symbolic     partment   disc,    and   date   employed, 
or  abbreviated  form.  On  the  left  hand  side  of  the  card  the 


Name. 


Good:        Fair:        Poor: 
.Disc Employed Date 


Test  Ratings 


I.Q. 


.  Date . 


Speed . 


Follow-up 


Training  Report 


Employment 


Accuracy 

Arithmetic 

Learning 

Motor  Dexterity 

Age Schooling . 

Work  Experience 

Problems 


Fig.  1.  Fkont  of  Record  Card 


PROBLEM  CASE 

Reason 

Treatment 

Recommendation 

Final  Status 

Fig.  2.  Back  of  Record  Card 

On   the   first   line   of   the   card   is     psychological    and    chnical   interview 
placed  the  new  employee's  name,  de-     data,  such  as  I.Q.,  speed,  accuracy, 


440 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


arithmetic,  motor  dexterity^  filing,  and 
whatever  test  records  may  be  used 
for  the  particular  job  in  question; 
then  the  age,  schooling,  work,  per- 
sonality, home,  and  other  information, 
as  well  as  outstanding  health  problems, 
or  physical  handicaps,  etc. 

The  follow-up  data  are  placed  on  the 
right  hand  side  of  the  card.  This 
should  include  brief  mention  of  the 
dates  of  the  interviewer's  own 
follow-up,  together  with  reference  to 
any  very  outstanding  information. 
It  is  important  that  he  secure  informa- 
tion from  the  Divisional  Teacher  in 
the  Training  Department  as  to  the 
results  of  training,  and  in  fact  start 
her  follow-up  with  this  information. 

The  follow-up  should  be  regular 
and  systematic  and  should  continue 
uninterrupted  until  the  interviewer  is 
sure  of  the  adjustment  of  his  case.  In 
the  upper  right  hand  corner  of  the 
card  is  a  place  to  rate  the  individual 
as  a  good,  fair,  or  poor  personnel 
risk. 

If  the  employee  becomes  a  problem 
case,  he  should  be  referred  to  the  Con- 
ference Office  for  a  more  careful 
study  of  the  nature  of  the  problem 
and  for  possible  treatment  work.  The 
Conference  Office  will  then  send  to  the 
interviewer  a  detailed  report  of  its 
findings,  with  specific  recommenda- 
tions. On  the  back  of  the  card  should 
be  recorded  Problem  Case,  nature  of 
problem,  date  of  reference,  recom- 
mendations, and  final  status.  Though 
the  case  may  be  handled  by  the  Con- 
ference Office,  this  will  keep  the  inter- 
viewer in  close  touch  with  all  of  the 
findings,  the  Conference  Office's  own 
follow-up  work,  and  any  special  treat- 
ment undertaken,  thus  giving  him  a 


picture  of  the  case  in  its  entirety,  and 
helping  him  to  grow  in  his  own  under- 
standing of  the  clinical  implications  in 
work  maladjustments. 

In  figures  1  and  2  are  given  a  sug- 
gested arrangement  for  a  record  card. 

PERIODIC  ANALYSIS  OF  WORK 

At  least  once  every  six  months 
there  should  be  a  careful  stock  taking, 
a  statistical  evaluation  of  the  work 
done,  a  rigid  scrutiny  of  the  results 
achieved. 

Every  single  case  should  be  gone 
into  and  the  final  status  determined. 
It  should  be  the  purpose  of  the  inter- 
viewer to  analyze  the  material  in 
terms  of  each  individual  employed, 
as  well  as  in  terms  of  statistics  of  the 
entire  group.  He  would  then  be  able 
to  understand  clearly  and  interpret 
significant  trends,  bring  out  the  weak- 
nesses in  his  methods,  and  profit  by 
the  mistakes  he  has  made. 

There  is  no  other  means  of  growth 
more  satisfactory  than  that  obtained 
through  a  periodic  analysis  of  one's 
own  work. 

CONCLUSIONS 

We  have  in  the  preceding  pages 
given  a  very  brief  outline  of  a  guide 
for  the  employment  interviewer,  based 
upon  well  tried  methods  of  studying 
human  behavior. 

We  have  suggested  an  employment 
procedure  that  is  fundamentally 
clinical  in  nature  and  that  seeks 
through  an  application  of  medical, 
psychological,  psychiatric,  and  social 
technique,  to  discover  and  evaluate 
the  essential  factors  underlying  the 
individual's  fife  adjustments,  to  prog- 
nose his  work  potentialities,  and  to 


Anderson  :  Psychiatric  Guide  for  Employment 


441 


improve  his  ways  of  meeting  job  and 
other  life  situations. 

It  is  out  of  the  question  to  hope  that 
in  any  mere  brief  discussion  of  this 
nature  we  can  do  more  than  call 
attention  to  fields  of  knowledge  that 
should  be  carefully  investigated  by 
the  employment  interviewer  in  his 
search  for  information  and  training. 
He  should  read  assiduously  and  study 
thoroughly  the  psychiatric  literature. 


He  should  constantly  grow  through  his 
close  check-up  and  evaluation  of  his 
own  work. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  he 
will  come  into  the  possession  of  wisdom 
any  differently  from  the  slow  and 
laborious  methods  pursued  by  all 
students  who  have  to  practice  tneir 
art  in  order  profitably  to  learn. 

{Manuscript  received  November  21, 1927.) 


Interesting  Department  Executives  in 
Organized  Training 

By  James  H.  Greene  and  Anne  L.  Kinzer,  Research  Bureau  for  Retail 
Training,  University  of  Pittsburgh 

Organized  training  in  large  department  stores  has  become  a  joint 
project  of  the  training  department  and  the  heads  of  selling  and 
non-selling  departments.  The  training  director  must  usually 
perform  the  task  of  interesting  department  executives  in  such  train- 
ing. Inevitably  he  meets  certain  difficulties.  A  study  of  these 
difficulties,  and  of  solutions  which  have  been  found  for  them,  is 
here  described. 


THE  trend  in  department  store 
organization  is  toward  making 
the  buyer  a  department  mana- 
ger and  placing  upon  him  more  and 
more  administrative  responsibiUty. 
This  has  given  him  a  multiphcity  of 
duties, — seventy-seven,  according  to 
a  Bureau  survey.  One  of  these  is  the 
administration  of  department  training. 
Department  or  decentrahzed  train- 
ing is  taking  an  increasingly  important 
place  in  department  store  training 
programs.  It  is  now  estimated  that 
of  the  training  necessary  to  produce 
an  efficient  staff  of  workers,  about  15 
per  cent  can  be  given  by  the  training 
department  in  centraUzed  groups;  the 
remaining  85  per  cent  must  be  given  in 
the  department  by  the  buyer  or  the 
assistant.  It  is  essential,  therefore, 
that  the  buyer  be  convinced  of  the 
importance  of  training;  otherwise,  he 
may  allow  this  duty  to  be  pushed  aside 
for  others  which  seem  to  him  more 
necessary. 

It  is  true  that  many  buyers  and 
heads  of  non-selling  departments  are 


not  convinced  of  the  value  of  training 
for  their  departments.  Before  a  train- 
ing program  can  be  inaugurated,  there- 
fore, the  idea  must  be  sold  to  the 
department  manager.  The  training 
department,  in  most  cases,  takes  the 
initiative.  It  is  possible,  of  course,  to 
get  action  by  an  official  order  from 
above,  but  better  results  will  usually 
be  obtained  if  the  training  director  is 
able  to  convince  the  department  ex- 
ecutive of  the  value  of  the  proposed 
training. 

In  order  to  help  training  directors 
with  this  task,  a  study  was  made  by 
the  Research  Bureau  for  Retail  Train- 
ing of  the  difficulties  and  problems 
encountered  in  trying  to  interest  ex- 
ecutives in  organized  department 
training,  and  of  the  solutions  which 
successful  personnel  workers  have 
found  for  these  problems. 

the  difficulty  analysis 

The  first  step  in  studying  the  prob- 
lem of  interesting  executives  in  de- 
partment   training    was   to    make   a 


442 


Greene  and  Kinzer:  Department  Executives  443 


TABLE  1 
Preliminary  tabulation  of  difficulties 


1.  Difficulties  pertaining  to  the  buyer  or  department  manager 

1.  The  buyer  thinks  he  has  no  time  to  train. 

2.  The  buyer  thinks  he  trains,  but  does  not. 

3.  The  buyer  does  not  see  the  importance  of  organized  training. 

4.  The  buyer  cooperates  to  help  the  training  department  rather  than  to  help  himself. 

5.  The  buyer  considers  training  a  fad  which  takes  people  out  of  the  department  and 

is  conducted  by  some  one  who  has  only  theoretical  knowledge  of  the  salesper- 
son's problems. 

6.  The  buyer  does  not  see  how  training  can  be  done. 

7.  The  buyer  does  not  realize  that,  whether  he  wishes  to  do  so  or  not,  he  must  train 

his  people. 

8.  The  buyer  does  not  realize  that  following  a  training  plan  is  easier  than  working 

without  one. 

9.  The  buyer  says  he  does  not  know  how  to  train. 

10.  The  buyer  says  there  are  no  books  to  follow. 

11.  The  buyer  says  there  are  no  precedents  to  follow. 

12.  The  buyer  says  training  was  not  necessary  in  the  past  and  is  not  now. 

13.  The  buyer  does  not  wish  to  take  inventory  of  himself — to  check  his  ability  as  a 

trainer. 

14.  The  buyer  fears  that  after  the  training  program  is  organized  there  will  be  difficulty 

in  following  it  up. 

15.  The  buyer  feels  a  lack  of  confidence  in  attacking  a  new  problem. 

16.  The  buyer  says  there  are  no  good  trainers  or  coaches  in  the  department. 

17.  The  buyer  objects  to  using  prepared  material. 

18.  The  buyer  fears  that  he  will  not  receive  help  with  the  training  program. 

19.  The  buyer  feels  that  the  training  department  is  interfering. 

20.  The  buyer  considers  training  unsuitable  for  his  department. 

21.  The  buyer  seems  interested  but  delays  in  getting  started. 

2.  Difficulties  pertaining  to  the  training  representative 

22.  The  idea  of  organized  training  is  presented  by  the  wrong  type  of  person— by 

someone  who  cannot  stand  up  under  the  cross-e.xamination  of  the  buyer. 

23.  The  training  representative  lacks  the  self-assertion  necessary  to  sell  the  idea  of 

training  to  the  buyer. 

24.  The  training  representative  lacks  patience  with  the  buyer. 

25.  The  training  representative  fears  the  buyer. 

26.  The  training  representative  lacks  the  ability  to  secure  cooperation. 

27.  The  training  representative  has  not  established  a  reputation  for  cooperativeness. 

28.  The  training  representative  lacks  a  real  understanding  of  the  buyer's  and  assistant 

buyer's  jobs  and  viewpoints. 

29.  The  training  representative  is  unwilling  to  modify  her  plans  to  suit  conditions. 

30.  The  training  representative  has  not  secured  the  confidence  of  the  buyer. 

31.  The  training  representative  is  unable  to  sell  herself  to  the  buyer. 

3.  Difficulties  pertaining  to  the  firm 

32.  Store  executives  hesitate  to  support  training  lest  they  upset  major  executives  in 

other  matters. 

33.  Store  executives  feel  that  training  must  be  checked  up  surreptitiously. 


444 


Greene  and  Kinzer:  Department  Executives 


difficulty  analysis  of  the  task.  Using 
as  a  nucleus  a  list  of  difficulties  re- 
corded from  personal  experience,  the 
investigator  collected  others  from  train- 
ing directors,  personnel  directors,  and 
certain  other  executives.  Most  of  the 
material  was  obtained  through  inter- 
views, but  in  cases  where  this  was 
impossible,  a  list  of  the  difficulties 
already  collected  was  sent  to  the  execu- 
tive, with  a  request  for  additions  to 
the  list.  Twelve  people  were  reached 
by  these  two  methods,  but  no  new 
difficulties  were  obtained  after  the 
ninth. 

In  all,  40  difficulties  were  listed. 
There  was,  however,  some  duplica- 
tion, so  that  when  the  difficulties  were 
tabulated,  the  number  was  reduced 
to  33.  It  was  found  that  the  difficul- 
ties could  be  very  simply  classified  in 
three  groups : 

1.  Those  pertaining  to  the  buyer  or   de- 

partment manager 

2.  Those  pertaining  to  the  training  repre- 

sentative 

3.  Those  pertaining  to  the  firm 

This  is  the  classification  used  in  table 
1,  which  represents  the  preliminary 
tabulation  of  difficulties.  The  word 
buyer  is  used  in  every  case,  but  it 
should  be  understood  that  the  execu- 
tive may  be  the  head  of  either  a  selling 
or  a  non-selhng  department. 

THE    COLLECTION    OF   SOLUTIONS 

The  second  step  in  the  study  was  the 
collection  of  solutions  to  the  difficul- 
ties which  had  been  listed.  In  this, 
as  in  most  studies,  there  was  some  over- 
lapping in  the  procedure,  and  difficul- 
ties and  solutions  were  collected  at  the 
same  time,  ^^^^en  executives  were 
being  consulted  about  difficulties,  the 


question  naturall)'  arose,  "\Miat  solu- 
tion would  you  suggest  to  this 
problem?"  \Mien  the  list  of  difficul- 
ties was  mailed  to  executives,  they 
were  asked  to  make  additions  and  to 
give  their  experience  in  meeting  any 
or  all  of  the  difficulties.  The  matter 
of  economy  of  time,  as  well  as  of  sim- 
plicity of  procedure,  made  this  plan 
seem  advisable. 

Executives  interviewed  early  in  this 
step  of  collecting  solutions  stressed 
the  importance  of  showing  buyers 
and  department  heads  what  successful 
managers  had  accomplished  through 
systematic  training.  For  this  rea- 
son it  was  considered  advisable  to 
interview  several  such  managers  and 
obtain  their  arguments  in  favor  of 
organized  training.  It  was  thought 
in  this  way  to  coUect  a  number  of 
selling  points  which  training  repre- 
sentatives might  use  in  interesting 
executives  in  training,  and  thus  to 
add  definiteness  to  the  solutions  sug- 
gested for  various  difficulties. 

THE   RBSITME    OF   PRACTICES 

The  collection  and  tabulation  of 
solutions  further  condensed  and  sim- 
plified the  list  of  difficulties.  Prob- 
lems which  most  or  all  of  the  execu- 
tives interviewed  had  passed  over  as 
unimportant  were  omitted  or  incor- 
porated with  other  related  problems. 
This  process  not  only  reduced  the 
number  of  problems,  but  also  efimi- 
nated  one  of  the  three  groups  of  prob- 
lems altogether,  for  difficulties  32  and 
33  (table  1)  were  thought  by  the 
majority  of  people  interviewed  to  be 
unimportant  in  a  store  which  had 
established  a  training  department. 

The  result  of  the  study  was  a  brief 


Greene  and  Kinzer:  Department  Executives  445 

TABLE  2 
Difficulties  encountered  in  selling  organized  training 

I.  The  buyer  does  not  see  the  importance  of  organized  training. 

Suggestions 

1.  Cite  examples  of  what  is  being  accomplished. 

2.  Explain  the  advantages  of  training.  * 

3.  Show  him  why  he  must  train  his  people. 

4.  Show  him  the  increased  necessity  of  training  today. 

5.  Test  his  people  by  questioning  them  in  his  presence. 

6.  Shop  the  department  to  test  the  training  of  its  salespeople. 

II.  The  buyer  thinks  he  has  no  time  to  train. 

Suggestions 

1.  Tell  him  that  training  saves  time  in  the  long  run. 

2.  Tell  him  that  you  will  help  him  to  organize  the  training  so  that  it  will  take  less 

time  than  the  haphazard  training  he  now  gives. 

3.  First  sell  him  on  the  benefit  of  training;  then  help  him  to  organize  his  time. 

4.  Go  to  the  next  person  in  line — the  assistant  buyer. 

III.  The  buyer  thinks  he  trains,  but  does  not. 

Suggestions 

1.  Test  his  people  by  means  of  shoppings  or  questions. 

2.  Explain  devices  which  are  used  in  training. 

3.  Explain  what  a  training  program  includes. 

4.  Stress  the  importance  of  having  a  definite  recorded  program  which  will  not  be 

affected  by  changes  in  personnel. 

5.  Appeal  to  his  vanity;  make  him  want  to  improve  the  training  he  gives. 

6.  Cross-examine  him  to  see  what  type  of  training  he  gives. 

IV.  The  buyer  says  he  does  not  know  how  to  train. 

Suggestions 

1.  Help  him  to  collect  the  necessary  facts  and  show  him  how  to  present  them. 

2.  Encourage  him  to  have  confidence  in  himself.     Tell  him  that  organized  training 

is  simply  a  new  approach  to  an  old  problem. 

3.  Explain  how  a  training  program  is  prepared.     Tell  him  that  teaching  material 

will  be  provided. 

4.  Explain  the  work  of  trainers  and  coaches. 

5.  Suggest  beginning  quite  simply. 

6.  Offer  to  carry  the  work  at  first.     Show  him  how  easy  it  is. 

7.  Pass  over  poor  trainers. 

V.  The  buyer  says  there  are  no  available  trainers  in  the  department. 

Suggestions 

1.  Size  up  the  people  beforehand  and  suggest  someone. 

2.  Suggest  that  the  buyer  do  it  himself. 

3.  Remind  him  that  the  trainer  will  be  guided  and  assisted  by  the  training  de- 

partment. 


446  Greene  and  Kinzer:  Department  Executives 

TABLE  2— Continued 

VI.  The  buyer  objects  to  using  prepared  material. 

Suggestions 

1.  Explain  that  the  outline  is  a  very  practical  help,  prepared  by  buyer  and  train- 

ing department. 

2.  Explain  that  one  great  advantage  of  outlines  is  insurance  against  omissions. 

3.  Tell  him  that  the  outline  is  only  a  guide. 

4.  Use  the  story  telling  method  of  teaching,  which  "goes  over." 

5.  Give  your  outlines  a  human,  interesting  touch. 

VII.  The  buyer  considers  training  unsuitable  for  his  department. 

Suggestions 

1.  Explain  that  training  is  more  than  an  ornament — that  it  increases  the  number  of 

sales  and  the  number  of  satisfied  customers.     Cite  examples  from  depart- 
ments similar  to  his. 

2.  Point  out  the  superiority  of   a  trained  over  an  untrained  worker,  no  matter 

what  methods  are  used  in  the  department. 

VIII.  The  buyer  considers  training  a  fad  which  takes  people  out  of  the  department.  He 
regards  the  training  department  as  a  group  of  theorists. 

Suggestions 

1.  Convince  him  that  training  is  not  a  fad,  that  it  is  beyond  the  experimental 

stage. 

2.  Sell  yourself  on  your  practical  ability. 

3.  Explain  that  training  will  be  given  on  the  floor  by  the  regular  department 

staff. 

IX.  The  buyer  agrees  to  introduce  training,  but  procrastinates. 

Suggestions 

1.  Suggest  a  definite  time  for  further  discussion. 

2.  Make  a  definite  schedule  and  follow  it  up. 

3.  A  general  executive  should  set  a  date  and  insist  that  the  training  program  start 

then. 

4.  By  advertising,  create  a  demand  for  training. 

TABLE  3 
The  training  director 

The  following  qualities  have  been  suggested  by  executives  as  great  assets  to  the  training 
director  who  is  trying  to  interest  department  managers  in  organized  depart- 
ment training: 

1.  Friendliness. 

2.  Genuine  understanding  of  the  buyer's  and  assistant  buyer's  jobs  and  viewpoints. 

3.  Patience. 

4.  Dependability. 

5.  Diplomacy. 

6.  Adaptability. 

7.  Self-confidence. 

8.  Self-assertion. 


Greene  and  Kinzer:  Department  Executives 


447 


resume  of  practices  in  interesting 
executives  in  organized  department 
training.  This  consisted  of  (I)  an 
introduction  which  explained  the  pur- 
pose of  the  study;  (II)  a  tabulation  of 
the  objections  raised  by  buyers  and 
department  heads,  with  suggested  solu- 
tions; and  (III)  a  list  of  qualities  de- 
sirable in  training  directors  who  hope 
to  sell  the  idea  of  training  to  de- 
partment managers.  Since  the  ma- 
terial was  prepared  for  the  use  of 
training  directors,  the  major  emphasis 
was  placed  on  arguments  which  train- 
ing directors  might  use,  and  the  de- 
sirable traits  of  character  were  hsted 
briefly,  simply  as  reminders.  Tables 
2  and  3  give  in  condensed  form  parts 
II  and  III  respectively  of  the  resum^ 
of  practices. 

In  using  the  resume,  any  training 
director  must,  of  course,  judge  the 
practicabiUty  of  the  suggested  methods 
in  the  light  of  her  knowledge  of  the 
executive  and  his  department,  of  the 
prestige  of  her  own  department,  and 
of  the  way  organized  training  is  con- 
ducted in  the  store.  In  the  words  of 
one  executive,  "the  training  director 
must  be  a  diplomat,  not  a  disciplina- 
rian." 


SUMMARY 

1.  Training  in  the  department,  by 
the  regular  department  staff,  is  as- 
suming increased  importance  in  re- 
tail stores. 

2.  Even  when  such  training  is  a 
policy  of  the  firm,  the  task  of  selling 
the  idea  to  buyers  and  heads  of  non- 
selling  departments  must  usually  be 
performed  by  the  training  director. 

3.  In  order  to  sell  the  idea  of 
organized  department  training,  the 
training  director  must  meet  the  objec- 
tions raised  by  department  managers. 
To  help  her  to  do  this,  the  Research 
Bureau  for  Retail  Training  has  made 
a  study  of  such  objections  and  of  ways 
of  overcoming  them. 

4.  Difficulties  and  solutions  have 
been  collected  from  training  directors, 
personnel  directors,  and  other  execu- 
tives by  means  of  interviews  and  a 
questionnaire. 

5.  The  method  of  obtaining  this 
material  and  of  preparing  a  resume 
of  practices  for  the  use  of  training 
directors,  is  described  in  this  paper. 

(Manuscript  received  December  8,  1927.) 


Promotion  for  Factory  Production 
Employees 

By  Franklin  J.  Meine,  Chicago 

This  is  the  second  of  two  articles  by  Mr.  Meine,  one  on  transfer, 
the  other  on  promotion,  for  factory  production  employees.  Here 
the  author's  practical  experience  in  industry  is  brought  to  bear  on 
the  problems  of  proTnotioji  and  the  value  and  essentials  of  a  successful 
promotion  plan. 


PROMOTION  is  here  used  to 
mean  roughly  changing  an 
employee  to  a  job  of  higher 
grade,  usualty,  although  not  neces- 
sarily, involving  an  increase  in  wage 
rate.  By  a  job  of  higher  grade  is 
meant  a  job  of  greater  value  to  the 
company  through  its  pecuhar  impor- 
tance to  the  company,  its  greater  skill 
or  knowledge  requirements,  its  greater 
mental  or  physical  requu'ements,  its 
larger  duties  and  responsibiUties,  or 
its  general  attractiveness  to  the  em- 
ployee. The  grading  of  jobs  will  be 
discussed  more  fully  later  on.  Pro- 
motion, as  the  word  is  used  here,  does 
not  mean  merely  transfer  or  pay  in- 
crease alone. 

This  outline  deals  with  promotion 
for  the  rank  and  file  of  employees,  and 
is  developed  mainly  from  the  point  of 
view  of  factory  production  employees. 
It  is  applicable  in  principle,  however, 
to  employees  in  stores,  in  offices,  or 
in  banks.  Promotion  for  executives 
and  for  production  employees  to  execu- 
tive rank  should  be  considered  quite 
separately.  These  latter  subjects  lie 
outside  the  scope  of  this  paper.     Pro- 


motion in  this  discussion  refers  to 
promotion  for  the  rank  and  file  in 
production  work. 

Promotion  can  be  thought  of  in 
terms  of  hiring, — with  one  difference, 
that  the  one  who  is  promoted  is  an 
employee  in  the  organization.  This 
single  difference  gives  the  promotion 
process  quite  a  different  complexion. 
Hiring  is  mainly  the  selection  of 
employees  for  defined  duties;  but 
this  one  difference, —  the  fact  that 
the  employees  are  drawn  from  within 
the  organization, — makes  promotion 
unique.  It  is  an  inside  problem,  dealing 
with  the  officers  of  the  organization, 
affecting  intimately  the  stabifity  of 
the  organization,  and  having  a  peculiar 
effect  upon  the  employee  promoted. 

PURPOSE    OF    A    PROMOTION    PLAN 

A  promotion  plan  should  be  con- 
sidered as  a  means  to  an  end  rather 
than  an  end  itself.  One  of  the  very 
first  necessities  of  an  organization  is 
to  develop  men ;  and  a  promotion  pro- 
cedure is  valuable  chiefly  in  so  far  as 
it  helps  achieve  this  goal.  A  promo- 
tion  plan  should  not   be    cobwebbed 


44S 


]\Ieine  :  Promotion  for  Factor^^  Employees 


449 


vnth  inflexible  rules.  Promotions 
should  be  made  in  any  manner  in 
which  the  individual  and  the  company 
will  ultimately  be  benefited.  This 
caution  should  not,  however,  serve  as  a 
"smoke-screen"  for  having  no  definite 
promotion  plan  at  all,  nor  should  it 
preclude  intensive  thinking  and  ex- 
perimenting along  these  lines,  because 
it  is  only  by  these  methods  that  sat- 
isfactory promotion  plans  can  be  ar- 
rived at. 

VALUE    OF   PROMOTION 

A  definite  promotion  program  has  a 
three-fold  value.  Benefits  accrue  to 
three  parties:  (a)  the  organization,  in 
general;  (b)  the  employment  depart- 
ment, specifically;  and  (c)  the  em- 
ployee. 

a.  For  the  organization  a  promotion 
plan  is  of  value  since 
1.  It  makes  for  stability  of  or- 
ganization by  reducing  the 
labor  turnover.  There  will 
be  fewer  exits  from  the  pay- 
roll because  employees  have 
opportunities  for  advance- 
ment. 

2.  It  engenders  loyalty  and  esprit 

de  corps  because  of  the  satis- 
faction felt  by  employees  who 
have  had  the  chance  their 
abilities  deserve. 

3.  It   develops  an  organization 

of  employees  who  are  versa- 
tile, because  most  of  them 
wiU  have  had  experience  at 
more  than  one  job. 
4.  It  tends  to  bring  to  the  front 
individuals  of  unusual  abil- 
ity, because  they  have  worked 
in  a  variety  of  situations, 
have  been  carefully  observed, 


have  had  training  and  oppor- 
tunity in  shouldering  small 
responsibilities  at  first,  and 
then  growing  with  them. 

5.  It  acts  as  a  selective  process 
by  which  the  competent  and 
persevering  employee  gradu- 
ally rises  to  the  top. 

b.  The  employment  department 
benefits  specifically  by  a  pro- 
motion plan.  The  policy  of 
having  regular  promotions  for 
employees  is  not  always  easy  to 
follow,  but  when  generally  ad- 
hered to  it  yields  very  happy 
results.  It  may  appear  to  mean 
additional  work  for  the  em- 
ployment department  since  at 
least  two,  and  sometimes  several, 
employees  are  affected  every 
time  a  vacancy  occurs  in  the 
higher  grade  jobs.  But  this 
long  sighted  pohcy  will  usually 
compensate  for  itself  in  the  de- 
sired result  that  it  brings. 

6.  Knowledge  of  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  pohcy  of  the  com- 
pany to  promote  to  its  higher 
grade  jobs  from  within  at- 
tracts a  higher  grade  of  help. 
Some  occupations  do  not  in 
themselves  offer  to  the  am- 
bitious employee  much  op- 
portunity for  advancement. 
\^Tien  such  jobs  are  used  as 
"feeders"  to  positions  with 
chances  for  advancement,  a 
higher  type  of  employee  can 
be  attracted  since  many  in- 
dustrious apphcants  will,  for 
the  time  being,  accept  posi- 
tions whose  requirements  are 
somewhat  beneath  their  ca- 
pabilities,   provided  that    a 


THE   PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,    VOL.    VI,    NO.    6 


450 


Meine  :  Promotion  for  Factory  Employees 


way  of  advancement  is  open 
from  these  positions  into  the 
more  desirable  ones. 

7.  In  this  way  a  promotion 
plan  helps  "sell"  a  job  to  an 
employee. 

8.  There  is  always  an  immediate 
supply  of  employees  from 
which  reservoir  the  employ- 
ment manager  can  draw  to 
fill  the  higher  grade  jobs, 
usually  more  difficult  to  fill 
from  the  outside. 

9.  It  helps  the  Employment 
Manager  keep  the  wage 
schedules  of  the  organiza- 
tion in  line.  With  a  pro- 
motion plan  in  operation 
there  will  be  a  close  relation 
between  wage  rates,  length 
of  service,  and  grade  of  job. 
This  means  satisfaction  to 
the  employees,  reward  for 
promotion,  and  avoidance  of 
the  difficulty  of  paying  more 
money  to  employees  of 
shorter  service,  on  the  aver- 
age, than  to  old  employees 
with  long  service. 

c.  A  Promotion    Plan  has  a  vital 
appeal  to  the  employee. 

10.  It  means  a  better  job  and  more 
money  to  him. 

11.  It  shows  the  employee  that 
the  management  is  interested 
in  him.  If  the  employee 
knows  the  management  is 
interested  in  him  the  battle 
is  half  won. 

12.  It  develops  the  employee's 
technical  or  manufacturing 
abiUty,  giving  him  a  wider 
market  for  his  services  and 
bringing  him  greater  personal 


satisfaction  in  knowing  that 
he  has  greater  ability. 
13.  It  provides  opportunity  for 
self  development  and  growth. 
Next  in  importance  in  the 
applicant's  mind  to  "How 
much  do  you  pay?"  is  "What 
are  the  chances  of  getting 
ahead?" 

ESSENTIALS  OF  A  PROMOTION  PLAN 

A  helpful  approach  to  a  formulation 
of  the  essentials  of  a  promotion  plan 
for  factory  production  employees  may 
be  stated  thus : 

Each  employee  is  on  a  production 
job.  He  wants  all  he  can  get  in  money, 
opportunity,  and  appreciation.  With 
him,  promotion  is  a  personal  matter: 
it  means  to  him  what  it  means  to  you 
and  me.  In  the  same  sense  that  there 
is  this  common  basis,  so  too,  each 
individual  is  peculiarly  unique.  Each 
man  has  his  desires,  interests,  abifities 
(latent  perhaps),  and  his  special  ex- 
perience and  training  which  makes  him 
better  fitted  for  some  job  than  another. 
These  individual  wants  and  abifities 
point  in  some  direction, — directions 
frequently  revealed  by  the  definition 
of  opportunities  through  job  analyses. 

At  the  same  time  management  is 
constantly  looking  for  men  and  women 
to  fill  jobs  made  vacant  either  by 
"lefts,"  promotions,  new  methods  of 
work,  increase  of  work,  etc. 

With  this  approach  in  mind  we  may 
say  that  a  plan  for  regularly  promoting 
employees  should  provide  for 

1.  Determining  opportunities  for 
employees. 

2.  Determining  the  fitness  (capac- 
ity) of  employees  for  these  oppor- 
tunities. 


Meine  :  Promotion  for  Factory  Employees 


451 


3.  Determining  employee's  desire  to 
be  promoted. 

4.  Determining     who     should     be 
promoted. 

5.  Making  the  promotion. 

6.  Rules  for  making  promotions. 

7.  Determining  the  success  of  the 
plan. 

1.  Determining  opportunities  for  em- 
ployees 

Determining  opportunities  for 
promotion  is  mainly  a  matter  of 
analyzing  and  grading  jobs  so  that 
the  abler,  older,  longer  service  em- 
ployees have  the  first  opportunity 
of  getting  the  higher  grade  jobs. 

Determining  opportunities  for 
promotion  involves  in  detail: 

a.  Careful  analysis  of  jobs  and 
making  specifications  for  their 
requirements.^ 

b.  Grading  of  jobs  for  determin- 
ing promotion  levels.^ 

c.  Standardization  of  wage  rates 
for  jobs  so  graded.^ 

a.  Careful  analysis  of  jobs  and 
making  job  specifications  for 
their  duties  and  requirements. 

^  These  subjects,  Job  Analysis,  Job  Grad- 
ing, and  Standardization  of  Wage  Rates 
are  too  involved  to  be  treated  in  full  here. 
We  attempt  merely  to  indicate  their  general 
nature  and  to  show  how  they  relate  to  trans- 
fer and  promotion  plans.  For  detailed 
discussion  of  these  subjects  the  reader  is 
referred  to  three  special  articles:  (1)  Kings- 
bury, F.  A.,  "Grading  the  Office  Job,"  in 
Administration,  March- July,  1923;  (2) 
Meine,  F.,  "Job  Analysis  for  Employment 
Purposes,"  in  The  Annals,  November  1923, 
a  special  number  called  "Psychology  in 
Business,"  and  (3)  "Salary  Administra- 
tion," the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Salary  Standardization  of  the  Office  Execu- 
tives Division  of  American  Management 
Association,  New  York,  1925. 


A  job  specification  should  show 
the  source  from  which  an  em- 
ployee should  be  drawn  for  the 
job.  When  the  specification  for 
a  job  shows  that  an  employee  is 
better  selected  from  within  the 
working  force,  selection  changes 
from  hiring  to  promoting.  Anal- 
ysis of  jobs  shows  that  in  an 
organization,  and  certainly  within 
departments,  there  is  much  over- 
lapping of  duties  and  quahfica- 
tions  of  jobs  and  that  in  carefully 
analyzing  the  requirements  of 
each  job,  promotion  can  be  so 
planned  as  to  use  more  effectively 
the  experience  acquu'ed  in  related 
jobs  in  the  department  or  in  the 
organization, 
b.  Grading  of  jobs  for  determin- 
ing promotion  levels.  Jobs  are 
graded  in  such  a  way  as  to  use 
to  best  advantage  the  abihty 
and  experience  of  the  employee 
in  terms  of  work  requirements 
and  to  reward  him  accordingly. 
This  facihtates  promoting  the 
employee  from  the  lower  grade 
to  the  higher  grade  jobs. 

Jobs  are  graded  in  accordance 
with  their  general  value  to  the 
company.  General  value  takes 
into  account  such  facts  as 

(1)  Manual  skiU. 

(2)  Information  or  knowledge. 

(3)  Mental  effort. 

(4)  Physical  effort. 

(5)  Attractiveness  of  work. 

(6)  Peculiar     importance     of 
work  to  the  company. 

After  jobs  have  been  carefully  ana- 
lyzed, they  may  be  graded  in  the  light 
of  these  factors  in  round-table  discus- 
sion of  EmplojTnent  and  Production 


452 


Meine  :  Promotion  for  Factory  Employees 


men;  or  such  grading  may  be  arrived 
at  by  some  job  rating  method. 

At  the  Westinghouse  Plant^  in  Pitts- 
burgh, many  occupations  and  jobs  were 
graded  into  five  levels  as  follows: 

Grade  "A" 

Experimental  work,  model  and  instru- 
ment making;  high  class  tool  work,  such  as 
dies  and  the  most  exact  jigs  and  fixtures; 
balancing  of  high  speed  revolving  parts; 
operation  of  largest  machine  tools,  where 
responsibility  is  great  or  extreme  accuracy 
is  required;  winding  of  large  rotors;  high 
class  blacksmith  work,  etc. 

This  work  demands  a  general  knowledge 
of  machine  tools,  speeds,  feeds,  methods,  and 
materials,  also  good  judgment  and  accuracy 
without  the  use  of  jigs,  and  a  high  degree  of 
skill  and  dependability. 

Grade  "B" 

Work  requiring  accuracy,  general  ability, 
and  experience,  but  not  thorough  knowl- 
edge or  experience  required  on  grade  "A" 
work;  operation  of  large  machine  tools  on 
heavy  "repetition"  work  where  extreme 
accuracy  is  not  required  or  work  on  machine 
tools  of  medium  size  where  accuracy  is 
required.  Knowledge  of  speeds,  feeds,  ma- 
terials, reading  of  blue  prints,  and  the  use  of 
gauges  are  required. 

Grade  "C" 

In  general,  this  work  consists  of  perform- 
ing some  one  or  two  operations,  requiring 
some  accuracy,  and  where  there  is  consider- 
able repetition.  For  example,  repetition 
work  on  engine  lathes,  boring  mills,  and 
screw  machines.  Operator  should  be  able  to 
make  his  own  "set  up." 

Grade  "D" 

Repetition  work  on  one  or  two  simple 
operations  where  working  to  close  dimen- 

'  Stearns,  W.  D.,  "Standardized  Occupa- 
tions and  Rates,"  Industrial  Management, 
May,  1918. 


sions  is  not  required.  This  includes  simple 
work  on  drill  presses,  milling  machines,  en- 
gine lathes,  and  turret  lathes;  the  employee 
does  not  ordinarily  make  his  own  "set  up." 
Winding  rotors  and  stators  of  small  and 
medium  size;  and  large  field  coils. 

Grade  "E" 

Work  which  requires  little  or  no  previous 
training,  and  not  much  skill,  accuracy  or 
knowledge.  This  includes  general  labor 
work  such  as  handling  material,  hand  truck- 
ing, sweeping,  or  janitor  work. 

Every  job  in  the  shop  is  put  in  one  of 
these  five  grades.  One  section  of  the  shop 
may  have  Grade  A  engine  lathe  work,  and 
in  another  section  the  best  work  may  be 
Grade  C. 

In  some  departments,  or  in  some 
plants,  perhaps,  where  jobs  are  so 
related  that  each  job  can  use  to  advan- 
tage certain  specific  ability,  training,  or 
experience  acquired  in  some  other  par- 
ticular job,  a  promotion  chart  can  be 
drawn  up  showing  graphically  the 
advancement  from  one  specific  job  to 
another.  An  example  of  such  a  pro- 
motion chart  may  be  found  on  page  15 
of  Mr.  P.  J.  Reilly's  Bulletin  on 
"Selection  and  Placement  of  Em- 
ployees," issued  by  the  Federal  Board 
of  Vocational  Education.  General 
grading  of  jobs,  however,  is  appli- 
cable to  a  wider  range  of  situations. 
c.  Standardization  of  v;age  rates  for 
jobs  so  classified. 

Grading  of  jobs  on  the  basis  of 
their  relative  value  to  the  com- 
pany forms  the  basis  of  a  stand- 
ardization of  wage  rates  which 
aims  to  pay  like  amounts  for 
jobs  making  similar  demands. 
Thus,  when  the  employee  is  pro- 
moted, he  is  rewarded  (when  he 
qualifies)  with  a  higher  wage  rate 
for  his  promotion. 


Meine  :  Promotion  for  Factory  Employees 


453 


2.  Determining    the  fitness    (capacity) 
of  the  individual 

The  opportunities  established  for 
promotion,  the  fitness  or  capacity 
of  the  employee  to  take  these  oppor- 
tunities must  be  determined. 

Roughly  it  may  be  said  that  there 
are  two  groups  of  quahfications 
that  have  to  be  determined: 

(1)  Abihty  to  do  the  job. 

(2)  Other  considerations  such  as: 
(a)  age;  (b)  length  of  service; 

(c)  reliability — attendance ; 

(d)  ability  to  get  on  with 
other  employees;  (e)  attitude 
towards  work,  etc. 

(These  are  not  arranged  in 
any  particular  order.) 
How  can  these  qualifications  be 
revealed?  Through  (a)  production 
records  of  amount  and  quahty  of 
work,  hours  of  work,  etc.;  (b)  ob- 
servation of  foremen ;  (c)  interviews 
with  employees;  (d)  periodical  rat- 
ings on  employees;  (e)  tests. 

3.  Determining  desire  of  employee  to  be 
promoted 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  know 
whether  an  employee  is  quafified  to 
be  promoted.  It  must  also  be 
known  if  the  employee  desires  to 
be  promoted.  This  imphes  that 
the  employee  must  first  know  of  the 
opportunities  available. 

This  may  be  accomplished  by 
posting  each  week  a  list  of  all 
vacant  jobs  on  bulletin  boards 
throughout  the  factory,  inviting 
application  by  employees,  followed 
by  more  description  of  the  job  in 
interview  with  employment  man. 

In  small  groups  personal  soUcita- 
tion  may  be  very  effective. 

How   can   these    desires   be   re- 


vealed? Employees  will  make  re- 
quests. Foreman  or  supervisor 
should  keep  in  close  touch  with  the 
desires  of  the  employee:  and  some 
method  for  conveying  this  informa- 
tion and  advice  to  the  proper  place 
is  commended. 

Interviews  periodically  will  re- 
veal desires  for  certain  jobs. 

4.  Determining  who  should  be  promoted 

Vacancies  occur  quickly,  and  fill- 
ing them  must  be  equally  quick  to 
keep  up  the  flow  of  production. 
Therefore,  employees  must  be  pro- 
vided as  soon  as  the  opportunity 
occurs. 

A  record  card  giving  in  detail 
the  employee's  job  experience,  state- 
ments of  his  job  abihty  and  of  his 
other  qualifications  (as  suggested 
above),  should  be  provided  to  facih- 
tate  a  quick  decision  as  to  which 
employee  of  several  is  the  most 
worthy  of  promotion. 

Lists  of  employees  eligible  for 
certain  jobs  will  be  helpful  in  selec- 
tions; also  the  army  method  of 
tabbing  quahfication  cards  for  job 
experience  facihtates  getting  at  pro- 
motion material.  Supervisors  may 
personally  have  recommendations 
or  through  some  system  make 
recommendations  regularly  on  the 
basis  of  keeping  records  of  requests 
and  recommendations  for  promotion . 

5.  Making  the  promotion 

If  the  promotion  is  such  that  the 
employee  can  do  his  new  work  with 
a  high  degree  of  efficiency,  merely 
transfer  to  the  new  job  is  needed. 

If,  however,  the  job  to  which  the 
new  employee  is  to  be  promoted  is 
considerably  more  difficult  than  the 


454 


]\Ieine  :  Promotion  for  Factory  Employees 


one  he  is  on,  adequate  training 
should  be  provided.  This  may- 
be regular  job  training,  vestibule 
school  up-grading,  or  "apprentic- 
ing" the  employee  to  an  operator 
who  knows  the  job.  Taking  a  new 
job  brings  with  it  discouragement 
from  not  knowing  how  to  do  it,  and 
a  fear  of  being  fired  if  the  employee 
happens  not  to  make  good  at  first. 
Therefore,  training  should  be  pro- 
vided; and,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  production,  the  sooner  the  pro- 
moted man  gets  out  of  his  "break- 
ing in"  period  and  on  to  a  produc- 
tion basis  the  better. 

6.  General  rules  for  making  promotions 

(1)  See  list  of  jobs  grouped  ac- 
cording to  grades.  Promote  from 
lower  to  higher  grade  jobs. 

(2)  Hire  in  for  higher  grade  jobs 
only  in  case  of  speciahsts,  of  unusual 
ability  and  experience,  or  when, 
after  going  over  each  promotion 
card,  you  cannot  find  anyone  in  the 
department. 

(3)  Do  not  be  afraid  to  promote  a 
man  even  though  he  is  making  so 
good  on  the  job  that  you  think  you 
cannot  get  another  man  to  do  as 
well.  This  condition  is  apt  to  be 
exaggerated,  due  to  the  fact  that 
little  thought  has  been  given  to 
replacement.  The  foreman  can  fre- 
quently be  won  over  to  making  the 
change,  because  he  realizes  the  neces- 
sity of  having  more  than  one  man 
able  and  ready  to  take  hold  of  a  job. 
Should  the  employee  be  penalized 
by  not  being  given  the  opportunity 
to  get  ahead? 

(4)  At  any  given  time,  it  may  not 
seem  wise  to  promote  an  employee 


otherwise  well  ciualified  for  promo- 
tion, but  this  should  be  the  excep- 
tion rather  than  the  rule  and  the 
employee  should  not  suffer  from 
this  decision. 

(5)  On  a  particular  job,  it  is 
possible  that  a  man  of  special  quali- 
fications for  that  job  may  be  worth 
as  much  to  the  company  as  he 
could  attain  anywhere  else  in  the  de- 
partment. Usually  the  better  move 
is  to  promote  to  the  higher  grade  job. 

(6)  Apparently  some  men  do  not 
want  to  be  promoted,  but 

a.  This  should  not  bar  a  man 
from  being  offered  an  op- 
portunity at  a  later  date. 

b.  This  may  be  due  to  the 
fact  that  management  has 
not  succeeded  in  getting 
its  promotion  proposition 
across  sufficiently  in  the 
plant  so  that  it  is  generally 
known  among  the  em- 
ployees. 

c.  Elderly  employees  of  long 
service,  who  have  been 
through  the  game  and  who 
have  settled  down  on  some 
job  may  not  want  to 
change  and  it  may  be  wise 
not  to  change  them. 

(7)  Because  a  man  is  not  quali- 
fied for  a  grade  A  job  should  not 
affect  his  promotion  to  a  grade  B 
job.  A  soldier  may  make  a  good 
sergeant  but  not  a  general. 

(8)  Some  jobs  will  always  appeal 
more  to  some  individuals  than  to 
others. 

(9)  In  a  group  of  employees, 
when  making  a  promotion,  care 
should  be  taken  not  to  hurt  any- 
one's feelings. 


Meine  :  Promotion  for  Factory  Employees 


455 


7.  Determining  success  of  plan 

The  success  of  a  promotion  plan 
should  be  capable  of  measure- 
ment. A  statement  of  a  success- 
ful plan  should  show  how  long  it 
has  been  in  operation,  how  many 
employees  have  been  promoted, 
men  and  women,  from  what  class 
to  what  class,  and  number  of  em- 
ployees who  have  been  hired  in  to 
fill  vacancies  that  should  have  been 
filled  from  within.  A  plan  which 
is  said  to  be  working  well  should  be 
capable  of  showing  specific  results. 
Otherwise  little  can  really  be  said 
for  it. 

DESCRIPTION    OF    AN    ACTUAL 
PROMOTION   PLAN 

This  promotion  plan  was  developed 
and  used  in  a  department  where  150 
girls  were  employed  in  cutting,  folding, 
pasting,  picking  up,  wrapping  making, 
and  doing-up  crepe  paper  items. 

Jobs  were  analyzed  and  specifications 
made  for  them  showing  what  jobs  used 
to  advantage  experience  gained  in 
other  jobs  in  the  department. 

The  jobs  were  then  classified  into  3 
grades:  A,  B,  and  C,  grade  A  jobs 
being  of  greatest  value  to  the  com- 
pany. 

Wage  rates  were  standardized  so 
that  100  per  cent  of  standard  in  each 
grade  of  job  brought  in  piece  earnings 
(in  addition  to  a  guaranteed  time 
rate).     A— .$8.50;  B— S6.50;  C— $5.00. 

A  service  record  was  developed 
which  gave  a  complete  record  of  the 
employee's  service,  both  in  that  de- 
partment and  in  the  company  so  that 
an  employee's  fitness  for  promotion 
could  be  readily  determined. 

To  keep  in  touch  with  the  desires  of 


the  employees,  a  small  Promotion  Card 
was  drawn  up,  to  be  carried  by  the 
production  supervisors  who  entered 
the  jobs  a  girl  wanted  and  the  ones 
they  recommended  the  employees  for. 
In  the  department  office  was  kept  a 
Hst  of  girls  eligible  for  certain  jobs. 
Whenever  certain  jobs  were  vacant 
those  girls  who  were  in  fine  for  them 
were  asked  if  they  wanted  them.  In 
addition,  lists  of  vacant  jobs  were 
posted  weekly  on  the  bulletin  boards, 
and  employees  invited  to  ask  for  op- 
portunities, further  details  available 
upon  interview  with  the  departmental 
personnel  supervisor. 

Promotion  was  easily  made  by  trans- 
fer. In  many  cases  training  was  re- 
quired. This  was  accomplished  by 
having  an  instructor  training  on  the 
job  and  by  sending  girls  with  a  requisi- 
tion for  training  to  the  vestibule  school. 
The  girls  were  trained  and  given  a 
certificate  to  show  that  they  had 
qualified  in  the  jobs  needed. 

During  the  first  six  months  that  the 
plan  was  in  operation,  July  1  to  Janu- 
ary 1,  the  number  of  promotions  made 
in  this  department  were  as  follows: 
July,  3;  August,  4;  September,  2;  Octo- 
ber, 4;  November,  3;  December,  2. 

Each  promotion  was  recorded  on  the 
Employee's  Service  Record  so  that  the 
details  of  each  case  were  quickly  avail- 
able. 

LIMITS   TO   PROMOTION    PLAN 

It  should  be  recognized  first  that 
planning  promotion  is  only  one  method 
of  dovetailing  the  working  force  to  the 
needs  of  production  and  it  is  only  a 
part  of  the  larger  policy  of  placement. 

Jobs  at  the  top  are  fewer,  often, 
than  the  supply  to  fill  them.     Conse- 


456 


Meine  :  Promotion  for  Factory  Employees 


quently,  there  will  still  be  some  loss  in 
employees  leaving  for  whom  satisfac- 
tory promotion  adjustments  cannot  be 
made. 

No  organization  should  be  wholly 
ingrowTi.  Some  employees  must  be 
drawn  from  the  outside. 

Some  employees  will  probably  have 
to  be  taken  in  for  certain  positions 
requiring  training  along  special  lines, 
but  these  should  be  selected  only  after 


the  available  working  force  has  been 
combed. 

Idiosyncrasies  of  human  behavior 
will  make  the  operation  of  a  promotion 
plan  at  times  seem  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult, if  not  impossible;  but  a  plan  care- 
fully laid  out  in  accordance  with  the 
essentials  outlined  will  work  out  to 
satisfaction. 

(Manuscript  received  November  22,  1926.) 


I 


The  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 

By  Herbert  A.  Toops,  Ohio  State  University 

How  can  the  best  man  be  selected  among  a  number  of  applicants 
for  appointment  or  promotion  to  a  university  position?  The 
problem  is  in  many  respects  similar  to  that  of  sifting  applicants 
for  research  fellowships.  Fundamentally  the  procedures  have  much 
in  common  with  those  required  by  good  business  management  in 
making  major  decisions  as  to  executive  personnel. 
Dr.  Toops  has  approached  this  question  objectively,  in  the  spirit 
and  with  the  methods  of  science.  In  this  somewhat  formidable  look- 
ing paper  he  makes  two  substantial  contributions  to  the  technique  of 
comparing  the  relative  merit  of  competitors.  To  make  use  of  such  a 
technique  requires  some  investment  of  brains  and  of  clerical  labor: 
but  the  returns  both  to  the  institution  and  to  the  individuals  con- 
cerned are  far  greater  than  the  cost. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  good  personnel  procedure  now  assumes  that 
appointment  and  promotion  should  be  based  on  ascertainable  merit 
objectively  determined,  little  has  been  published  as  to  the  methods 
whereby  an  individual's  merit  in  a  number  of  factors  can  be  combined 
into  a  single  merit  score  for  comparing  the  relative  worth  of  competing 
applicants.  The  practical  problem  is  further  complicated  by  the  fact 
that  usually  certain  data  are  missing  or  unavailable  for  some  of  the 
applicants.  This  article  develops  a  technique  for  solving  both  prob- 
lems, and  carries  the  reader  step  by  step  through  aU  the  necessary  com- 
putations of  a  typical  situation. 

N     THE     selection     of     graduate  should   be   objective,    in   so    far   as 

assistants    the   following    princi-  possible. 


pies  should  prevail : 


The  various  measures  of  merit  should 
be    correctly   weighted    according    to 

1.  Competent  assistants  now  on  the  job,  their  judged  true  importance. 

who  are  desirous  of  staying  longer,  5.  The  following  objective  factors   are 

should  be  retained,  and  if  possible,  be  readily  obtained  for  most  students 

promoted.  applying: 

2.  All  present  assistants  should  be  re-  a.  General  point-hour-ratio  in  all 
rated  annually  on  the  same  basis  as  undergraduate  and  graduate 
new  applicants   and  be   required  to  work  to  date. 

compete  with  new  applicants  for  their  b.  Point-hour-ratio  to  date  in  the 

positions.  department  in  question. 

3.  All  measures  of  merit  used  in  deter-  c.  Years  of  college  work  beyond  the 
mining  relative  standing  of  applicants  B.  A.  already  completed. 

457 


458 


Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


d.  Intelligence  rating. 

e.  Years  of  experience  as  assistant. 

f .  Total  hours  of  work  taken  in  the 
department  in  question. 

In  addition,  the  following  sub- 
jective factors  are  readily  ascer- 
tainable from  evidence  to  be 
submitted,  preferably  on  a  form 
sheet,  which  the  candidate  gives 
to  those  persons  whom  he  has 
requested  to  recommend  him, 
and  which  asks  specifically  for 
evidence  on  each  of  these  three 
points: 

g.  Special  abilities — mathematical, 
statistical,  shopwork,  engineer- 
ing, laboratory  or  clinical  ex- 
perience, etc. 

h.  Research  and  publications. 

i.  Attitude,  purpose  and  ambition. 

Specific  points  to  be  noted  with 
respect  "to  the  above  nine  traits  are 
as  follows : 

a.  General  scholarship  should  be 
reduced  to  a  comparable  quality- 
of-work-done  basis  by  the 
formula, 


Point-hour-ratio  = 


cumulative  points 


cumulative  hours 
One  may  add  to  or  subtract  from 
the  quotient,  as  desired,  a  num- 
ber of  points  for  membership  in 
certain  specified  "honor  so- 
cieties." Work  done  in  other 
colleges  or  under  different  sys- 
tems must  be  evaluated  as  well 
as  is  possible. 

b.  Evaluate  all  work  in  the  depart- 
ment in  question,  irrespective  of 
the  college  or  university  in  which 
taken,  by  the  above  formula. 

c.  Take  status  as  to  years  beyond 
B.A.,  as  of  end  of  the  year  during 
which  appointment  is  being 
made.     Drop  fractions  of  a  year. 

d.  The  intelligence  rating  of  appli- 
cant should  be  recorded  on  a 
comparable  basis,  percentile  or 
decile. 


e.  Record  years  of  experience  to 
nearest  /c  year,  as  of  end  of  year 
during  which  application  is 
being  considered.  Include  per- 
tinent equivalent  experience  such 
as  participation  in  surveys,  as 
research  clerical  assistant,  as 
diagnostician,  etc.  This  vari- 
able covers  "experience  for  pay 
in  the  student's  chosen  career." 

f .  Record  total  hours  of  work  taken 
in  the  department  in  question  as 
of  beginning  of  the  year  for 
which  appointment  is  being 
made,  if  possible — but  in  any 
event  on  a  cornparable  basis. 
For  example,  credit  under  the 
semester  system  should  be  mul- 
tiplied by  H  to  reduce  to  the 
quarter  system  basis  and  vice 
versa.  There  are  some  weighty 
arguments  for  in  general,  taking 
the  square  root  of  this  variable 
rather  than  treating  it  directly. 
There  are  occasions,  however, 
where  the  value  of  well-chosen 
work  in  a  department  does  not 
follow  a  logarithmetic  increase 
of  proficiency,  but  rather  a  geo- 
metrical one.  Perhaps  to  treat 
it  as  other  variables,  not  weigh- 
ing it  too  highly  will  solve  the 
problem. 

g.  Special  abilities  given  credit 
should  be  those  of  most  urgent 
demand  in  the  department  or 
useful  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  students'  being  able  to  carry 
out  an  unusual  thesis  research, 

e.g. 

1.  mathematical  ability 

2.  statistics 

3.  shopwork 

4.  engineering 

5.  drafting 

6.  typing 

7.  clinical  work 

8.  laboratory  work 

9.  photography 

10.  stenography 

11.  calculating  machine  oper- 

ation 

12.  mimeographing 


Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


459 


13.  medical  work 

14.  physiology 

15.  artistic  ability,  etc. 

Give  credits  from  0  to  10,  with  a 
distribution  such  that  5  will  be 
"about  average." 

h.  Take  into  account  researches 
completed,  researches  underway, 
publications,  articles  submitted 
for  publication.  Give  ratings 
of  0  to  10  as  above. 

i.  Take  into  account  whether, 
from  all  the  evidence  submitted, 
the  student  is  apparently  serious, 
and  well-decided  as  to  his  career; 
has  overcome  thus  far  any 
obstacles;  has  mapped  out  any 
educational  program  worthy  of 
the  name;  is  able  to  distinguish 
between  scholarship  and  grades; 
whether  he  avoids  courses  which 
are  difficult;  and  whether,  in 
general,  he  has  any  strong 
"drive." 

In  each  of  the  above  three 
subjective  estimates,  it  is  well 
to  get  specific  standards  if  possi- 
ble; e.g.,  in  h,  you  can  decide  to 
"give  3  to  an  M.A.  thesis  of 
average  quality;  5  to  a  superior 
M.A.  thesis;  6-10  for  from  1  to  5 
or  more  publications  in  addition 
toa5-quality  thesis,"  and  so  on. 

Let  us  emphasize  the  fact  that  all  of 
the  different  persons  should  he  rated  on 
one  trait  before  a  second  trait  is  begun. 
This  is  in  order  to  avoid  the  "halo" 
effect.^  Rate  all  applicants  on  one 
trait  before  beginning  a  second  trait. 
After  all  ratings  of  the  N  persons  are 
recorded,  review  the  ratings  of  the 
entire  column  and  adjust  any  unsatis- 
factory ones. 

In  case  any  scores  are  missing,  either 
supply  for  the  missing  score  (a)  the 

^  The  tendency  to  take  a  general  liking  or 
disliking  attitude  towards  a  person  and 
letting  ratings  on  all  other  traits  be  influ- 
enced thereby. 


average  score  of  the  column  (table  1), 
or  (b)  the  best  guess  you  can  make  as 
to  his  probable  score,  assisted  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  scores  made  by  the 
person  in  question  on  other  traits 
highly  correlated  with  the  missing 
score.  An  even  better  method,  per- 
haps, is  that  carried  out  in  the  example 
below,  as  shown  in  some  detail. 
When  supplying  data  by  either  of  the 
two  above  methods,  it  should  be  done 
before  the  standard  deviations  are 
computed. 

6.  It  is  then  necessary  to  determine, 
arbitrarily,  the  importance  of  the 
several  traits.  Let  several  competent 
judges  each  assign  100  bids  among  the 
nine  traits  in  question.  In  adjusting 
bids,  one  should  keep  in  mind,  per- 
haps, the  following: 

(1)  Variables  repeated  in  other 
variables  (having  a  high  corre- 
lation with  other  variables) 
should  receive  a  low  weight. 

(2)  Variables  which  are  subject  to 
error,  other  things  being  equal, 
should  receive  lower  weights 
than  those  not  so  subject  to 
error. 

(3)  Variables  representing  an  ade- 
quate sampling  over  a  long 
period  of  time  should  receive  a 
high  weight,  other  things  being 
equal,  relative  to  a  variable 
which  is  a  sampling  of  only  a 
short  performance  of  a  similar 
trait. 

(4)  The  bids  should  be  made  up 
independently;  i.e.,  without  the 
judges  conferring  during  the 
original  distribution  of  bids. 

(5)  After  each  of  three  or  more 
judges  independently  has  dis- 
tributed 100  bids  to  the  nine 
traits,  as  much  revision,  before 
comparing  results,  as  desired 
should  be  allowed. 

(6)  After  the  bids  are  thus  secured, 
a  set  of  compromise  bids  should 


460 


Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


TOTAL 

HOURS  OF 

P8YCHOLOOV 

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S- 

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Toops :  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


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462 


Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


be  made  up.  These  likewise 
should  add  up  to  100.  In  this 
construction  of  the  compromise 
bid,  the  above  first  three  prin- 
ciples, and  all  other  pertinent 
ones,  should  be  invoked  in  the 
discussion,  to  insure  that  a  fair 
set  of  bids  result.  It  may  be 
found,  for  instance,  that  two 
ideals  clash;  the  use  of  assist- 
antships,  etc.,  as  rewards  for 
the  encouragement  of  good 
scholarship,  and  of  their  use  to 
obtain  cheap  labor  for  depart- 
mental routine  duties,  for  ex- 
ample. It  may  be  found 
necessarj'  to  make  some  dis- 
tinction between  these  two; 
even  to  the  extent  of  establish- 
ing two  sets  of  weights,  and 
evaluating  each  candidate's 
merits  from  the  two  points  of 
view,  successively.  It  would 
seem  to  be  good  departmental 
policjf,  in  that  event,  to  evalu- 
ate every  candidate  applying 
for  either  of  the  two  t3^pes  of 
appointments,  for  both  ap- 
pointments, irrespective  of  the 
fact  that  the  candidate  applied 
for  only  the  one  appointment. 
Otherwise,  from  the  depart- 
ment's point  of  view  a  capable 
assistant,  for  example,  may  be 
lost  if  there  are  not  enough 
scholarships  and  fellowships 
"to  go  round;"  while  from  the 
student's  point  of  view,  often 
he  will  find  the  alternative 
position  offered  him  to  be  very 
acceptable. 

Let  these  compromise  bids  be  known 
as  /3i,  /32,  /S3,  .  .  .  (39.  Then  the  equa- 
tion for  combining  the  scores  which 
will  truly  weight  the  several  traits  in 
these  proportions,  is : 


/  =  -X:  +  -  X,  + 


+ 


(1) 


7.  Find  2X  and  SA''  for  each  column 
(table  1,  which  shows  the  data  for  23 


candidates  for  assistantships  in  Psy- 
chology at  O.  S.  U.),  and  record  in  two 
rows,  correspondingly  labeled,  at  the 
foot  of  the  several  columns.  This 
may  perhaps  be  most  readily  done  by 
the  1 — A'  method, 2  using  a  Monroe  or 
other  calculating  machine.  An  add- 
ing machine  may  do,  but  it  will  be 
slower,  and  will  be  more  labor  to 
check  results.  Repeat  the  operation 
for  a  check. 

Solve  the  standard  deviation,  if  de- 
sired for  other  purposes,  of  the  several 
columns, 


v/ 


N2X'  -  (SX)« 


N^ 


(2) 


In  table  1,  we  have  not  found  a-  itself 
but  <r^,  i.e.,  formula  (2)  before  extract- 
ing the  square  root,  and  have  pro- 
ceeded to  find 


9.  Find,  to  three  decimal  places,  values 
^£  Pi  P2^  p»  £^j.  ^jj  traits  in  which 

X's  have  no  decimals;  to  two  decimal 
places  if  X  includes  one  decimal  as  in 
variables  1, 2  and  8. 


a.  First    find  <r^    = 


iV* 


but  leave  as  an  unresolved  frac- 

48.97 


tion;  e.g.,  o-i* 


484 


(It  will 


be  noted  that  the  decimals  of  the 
numerator  enter  by  reason  of 
original    data    possessing    deci- 

^  This  method  is  as  follows: 

(1)  Set  up  a  "1"  in  a  left  hand  column 
(item  counter)  of  calculating  machine. 

(2)  Set  up  X  in  extreme  right  hand 
columns  of  calculating  machine. 

(3)  Crank  X  times.  If  decimal  place 
is  maintained  throughout,  left  hand  half  of 
answer  window  will  yield  SA',  and  right 
hand  half  'ZX'^  when  all  cases  have  been 
similarlv  entered. 


Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


463 


and 


mals.     This  method  involves  no 
"decimals  to  be  dropped.") 
b.  Find 


/ 


/32  •  N'' 


iV2X2  -   (SX)2        <r 


(3) 


It  will  be  noted  that  this  method 
does  not  involve  any  decimals 
until  the  next  to  the  last  opera- 
tion, just  previous  to  extracting 

the  square  root.     In  table  1,  — - 

is    recorded    as    an    unresolved 

fraction   and   also   again   as  — 

For  example 


ft' 


=  (8)2  X 


_1 30976 

48.97  ~  48.97 
484 


-  =  25.15 


10.  Set  —  in  keyboard  of  Monroe.     Multi- 

ply  all  Xi  values  (of  coliunn  1)  suc- 
cessively by  it  and  record  products, 
in  full  (i.e.,  to  three  decimals)  at 
proper  place  in  appropriate  column  of 
table  2.  Just  a  few  forward  or  back- 
ward turns  changes  one  multiplier  to 

a 

the  next,  the  constant  multiplier  — 
remaining  constantly  in  the  keyboard. 

11.  Find  SX--  and  record  at  foot  of  table 
1  in  appropriate  columns.  Thus 
2Xi—   =  70.1  X   25.15   =    1763.015. 

Retain  all  decimals. 

SX 

12.  Find  the  average,  Mz  =  -—-  for  each 

N 

trait.  Note  that  N  varies  in  the 
several  columns,  due  to  variable 
amounts  of  missing  data.  Record  to 
nearest  third  decimal  place. 


/3 

13.  Find  .1/  ■  -  for  each  trait  and  record  at 

foot  of  table  1.     Thus  .Vi  •-  =  3.186 

X  25.15  =  80.128.  Record  to  nearest 
third  decimal  place. 

14.  Do  all  other  variables  similarly. 
Find  the  various  sums  of  these  table  1 
sums  as  indicated  by  short  column  in 
lower  right  hand  column  of  table  1. 

15.  Add  all  columns  of  table  2.  Each  sum 
should  check  according  to  the  follow- 
ing formula: 

5,  =  2;^^X  =  ^^2X.  (4) 

0-1  cri 

in  which  SA'i  is  obtained  from  table  1. 
Thus:  .S'l  =  1763.015  (sum  at  bottom 
of  column  1,  table  2)  =  25.15  X  70.1. 
Inasmuch  as  the  products  in  step  10 
were  recorded  in  full,  this  check  holds 
absolutely,  as  indicated  in  the  above 
examples.  By  substituting  appro- 
priate subscripts,  the  formulae  for 
similarly  checking  the  other  columns 
of  table  2  are  available. 

16.  If  above  checks  do  not  hold,  recom- 
pute those  columns  of  table  2  which 
are  in  error.  When  correct  add  all 
horizontal  rows  and  record  sums  at 
right  hand  end  of  the  respective  rows 
in  a  column  at  the  right,  column  10 
of  table  2, — each  entry  of  which  is 
later  known  as  an  Sio  sum.  Add  this 
coliunn  10,  calling  the  sum  of  the  sums 
of  the  column,  T.  T,  in  this  problem, 
has  the  value,  8982.707. 

17.  Then  the  following  check  should  hold 
exactly : 

r  =  5i  +  52  +  .  .  .  +  S, 
Or,  8982.707  =  1763.015  +  3128.958 
-^  .  .  .  +  304,606  =  8982.707.  If 
this  check  holds,  the  sums  of  step 
10  are  the  correctly  compounded 
weighted  totals  which  rank  the  vari- 
ous applicants  in  order  of  relative 
merit  as  to  fitness  for  the  positions 
available,  if  no  scores  are  missing. 

We  have  supplied  the  missing  prod- 
ucts of  table  2  by  estimating  each 


464 


Toops :  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


=>  't;. 


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W 

Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


465 


missing    product    by    the    following 
formula : 


fe-)^ 


S^    -     (^mi   +  /3™,    +    •    •    •) 


X 


[«...,  -  -s  (;  •  m)  +  C"^;  •  «.. 


+  —  A/..  + 


■■): 


+  —  M„j     (5) 


In  which, 


mi  (subscript)  means  ''of  the  first  missing 
entry"  of  a  given  person  such  as  A. 

rrii  (subscript)  means  "of  the  second  miss- 
ing entry"  of  a  given  person,  A. 

Whence,  accordingly. 


fex   ) 

Vmi  '/ 


(fe  ^') 


means    "the    first    missing 
A        product     of     the     type, 

-  •  X,  of  a  given  person, 

or 

A,  occurring  in  a  row  of 
table  2; 

means  "the  first  missing 
table  2  product  for  per- 
son Q,"  or  "the  one 
under  consideration;" 
and  in  table  2  happens  to 
be  the  Trait  1  score,  gen- 
eral scholarship; 

means   "the   first   missing 
B         table  2  product  for  per- 
son B;"   and  in  table  2 
happens  to  be  the  Trait 
5  score,  intelligence. 


/3„,  is  the  compromise  bid  of  impor- 
tance for  the  missing  trait  being  sup- 
plied at  the  moment;  8  in  case  of  a 
Trait  1  missing  score;  15  in  case  of  a 
Trait  5  missing  score. 

-f  |8„) ;  or  in  this  case  8  +  13  +  5  -f  15 
+  15  +  12  -f  12  +  12  4-  8  =  100. 
It  is  always  a  constant,  "the  total  of 


the  compromise  weights."  (/3,„,  +  |8^ 
+  .  .  .  )  is  the  ''sum  of  the  compromise 
weights  corresponding  to  the  several 
missing  traits  in  the  case  of  the  person 
under  consideration;"  in  considering 
Q  who  has  Trait  1  missing  the  series 
consists  of  the  weight  of  one  trait  only, 
and  so  the  parenthetical  expression  has 
the  value,  8.  B  has  only  trait  5  miss- 
ing and  so  the  expression  again  is  made 
up  of  only  one  weight,  that  of  Trait  5, 
or  15.  If  any  person  had  both  Traits 
1  and  5  missing,  and  no  others,  the 
value  of  this  expression  would  be 
(i3i  +  ^s)  =  (8  +  15)  =  23. 

SioA  is  the  sum  in  column  10  of  table 
2,  recorded  for  the  person  in  question, 
A,  a  quantity  which  is  too  small  due 
to  the  lack  of  the  products  from  the 
missing  scores;  for  person  Q  this  sum 
is  317.827;  and  for  B,  335.660. 

S-  -M  is  a  constant,  "the  sum  of  all 
cr 

.3 
the   means   tunes   their   respective  - 

<r 

weights;  i.e.,  in  this  problem  is  equal 

to 


-  M,  +  -  M,  + 


+  -  Mi  =  405.486 


as  shown  by  the  lowermost  right  hand 
entry  of  table  1. 


M 


mi      1^   ■'■'-'■  m-,      1^    • 

Cm 


is  "the 


sum  of  all  the  -  M  products  which 

(T 

correspond  with  the  missing  scores 
for  the  person  under  consideration 
at  the  moment."  Thus  for  Q,  the 
parenthetical    expression    consists    of 

only  one  such  product  ^  Mi=  80.128, 

since  only  this  one  trait  is  missing  for 


466 


Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


Q;  for  B  also  only  one  such  trait  is 
missing,  and  the  corresponding  prod- 
uct, -  3/5    =    65.818  which  is   used 

in  the  formula;  if  B  had  had  both 
Traits  1  and  5  missing,  the  paren- 
thetical expression  would  have  been 
(80.128  -f  65.818). 

^  il/,„,  is   "that    product    of  this 

type  corresponding  to  the  trait  under 
consideration  at  the  moment  and  for 
which  a  product  is  being  supplied;" 
it  is  readily  read  off  from  the  last  row 
at  the  foot  of  table  1 ;  when  supplying 
any  person  with  a  Trait  1  product,  its 

value  is  -  Ml  =  80.128;  when  supply- 

0-1 

ing  any  person  with  a  Trait  5  score  its 
value  is  65.818. 

Let  us  now  consider  person  Q  who 
is  lacking  a  general  scholarship  record, 
Xi.  Here  /S,„.  =  /3i  =  8  (table  1); 
Sio  =  317.827  (from  table  2,  row  Q, 

column  10);  and  S-  -M    =    405.486 
a 

(from  table  1,  last  row,  column  10); 
and  ^  Ml  =  80.128  (\sLst  row  of 
table  1,  column  1). 


V''    /Q 


100-8 


[317.827  -  405.486  + 


80.128]  +  80.128  =  —  (-  7.531)    +  80.128 

=  -  0.654  +  80.128  =  79.474 

which  is  the  value  to  be  added  to  Q's 
Sio  score  in  column  11,  giving  us 
317.827  +  79.474  =  397.301. 
Whence,  Q's  corrected  score  for  column 
11,  is  therefore  397.301.  If  we  want 
to  make  the  corresponding  estimate 


of  Q's  Xi  score  we  divide  79.474  by 
— ,  i.e.,  by  25.15  and  obtain  a  point- 

0"! 

hour-ratio  of  3.16  (a  trifle  better  than 
average  B  marks  which  are  represented 
by  a  point-hour-ratio  of  3.00),  as  his 
probable  X-score. 

Let  us  correspondingly  set  up  the 
equation  for  B,  D,  T,  V,  four  appli- 
cants from  other  universities  whose 
intelligence  test  scores  were  un- 
attainable. 

(^^0^  =  1-5^    [335.660-405.486  + 
65.818]    +    65.818     = 
65.111. 
B's  product  in  column  11,  table  2,  ac- 
cordingly  becomes   335.660  +    65.111    = 
400.771. 

15 

[246.204  -  405.486  + 


(^.-'%- 


100-15 

65.818]   +  65.818    = 
49.322. 
D's  product  in  column  11,  table  2,  ac- 
cordingly becomes  246.204   +    49.322    = 
295.526. 


+ 


(^^^0^=1^     [319.367-405.486 

6.5.818]   +   65.818   = 
62.235. 
T's  product  in  column  11,  table  2,  ac- 
cordingly  becomes   319.367  +    62.235   = 
381.602. 

(^^•)^-T5S^5l^^'^'-«'^««  + 

65.818]   +  65.818   = 

45.713. 
Vs  product  in  column  11,  table  2,  ac- 
cordingly  becomes  225.757    +    45.713  = 
271.470. 

If  we  desire  to  supply  an  X^  score  for 
the  above   four   persons,   we   merely 

divide  the  —  Z5  products  respectively 

by  ^  =  7.672  and  obtain: 

XiQ  =  8.487  (since  this  unit  is  "nearest 
decile"  this  is  the  equivalent  in  per- 


Toops :  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


467 


centiles    of    an    85-percentiIe  score). 

This  would  be  recorded  as  an  "8"  in 
table  1. 

Xij^  =  6.429  (the  equivalent   of  64-per- 

centile).    This  would  be  recorded  as  a 

"6"  in  table  1. 
Xij,  =  8.112  (the   equivalent   of   81-per- 

centile) .    This  would  be  recorded  as  an 

"8"  in  table  1. 
Xsp.  =  5.958  (the  equivalent   of  60-per- 

centile).    This  would  be  recorded  as  a 

"6"intablel.« 

In  order  that  the  operation  of  for- 
mula (5)  may  be  clear  let  us  assume 
that  A's  Xi  and  X2  scores  are  both 
missing.  In  that  event  /Sioa  would 
be  reduced  by  (70.420  +  117.630)  = 
188.050  or  the  Swa  in  that  event  would 
have  the  value  201.705. 

(^m,+0m,+    .    .    .)='(^l+/32)  =   (8+13)=21 


Si-  '  M)  =  405.486,  as  before 

(X 


/5m,  ^mj  81  62 

—  M„^  +  —  iW^j  +  •  •  •  =  -  Ml  +  -  M2 

=  (80.128  +  136.059)   =  216.187 

When  supplying  first  for  Trait  1,  (3^ 
=  )3i  =   8;  when  later  supplying  for 
Trait  2,  /3„,,  (always  the  weight  of  the 

*  This  procedure  assumes  the  following : 

a.  We  shall  supply  for  a  missing  product 
that  product  which  would  result  if  we  give 
the  person  in  the  missing  trait  the  weighted 
average  <r-position  which  he  makes  in  all 
the  traits  which  are  present. 

b.  That  few  scores  are  being  supplied 
so  that  the  error,  made  in  taking  the  <r  and 
mean  of  a  trait  which  has  one  or  more 
missing  scores,  as  the  standard  deviation 
and  mean  which  would  result  if  all  the  data 
were  available,  is  negligible. 

It  will  be  noted  that  we  may  secure 
almost  as  good  results  by  substituting  for  a 

missing  -  X  product  of  any  column,  the 


trait  under  consideration)  =  ^2  =  13; 

and,  correspondingly — [M^^  =  80.128 

and  136.059,  respectively.     Then,  the 
predicted  products  are : 


64- 


—-— -   [201.705  -  405.486  + 
100-21  ^ 

216.187]  +  80.128  =  1.256  +  80.128  =  81.384 


(H  ■ 


13 


,<T2  "V.         100-21 


[201.705  -  405.486  + 


216.187]  +  136.059  =2.042  +  136.059=  138.101 

The  probable  Xi^  score  is  accordingly 

81.384 

^-    ,  =  3.2.     And  the  probable  Z2A 

.    138.101 
score  IS  -  =  3.5,    Both  of  these 

estimates  are  higher  than  the  actual 
scores  2.8  and  3.0  respectively,  indi- 
cating that  A  was  weaker  in  both 
general  and  departmental  scholarship 
than  in  the  general  run  of  the  seven 
remaining  traits. 

18.  Arrange  names  of  applicants  in  order 
of  decreasing  scores  as  per  operations 

(16)  and  (17)  above. 

The  above  procedure,  (1)  to  (17), 
truly  weights  the  several  traits  in  the 
proportions  /3i,  182,  etc.,  which  Kke 
multiplication  of  the  X's  would  not  do. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  adding 
the  gross  scores  on  the  nine  traits  does 
not  weight  the  traits  equally  bui  rather 
directly  according  to  the  standard  devia- 
tions of  the  several  variables  respectively.. 
To  multiply  the  gross  scores  by  j8i, 
/32,  etc.,  then  accordingly  weight  the 

mean  such  product  or  (- ^-^  )   found  in  the 

last  row  of  table  1.  We  would  be  compelled 
to  make  this  assumption  if  all  of  a  person's 
scores  were  missing,  for  example. 


468 


Toops:  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


variables  not  in  those  proportions  but  ^     x  ^                ^^^  ^i.         •    •        * 

,,       .     ,,                 .           .,          ^  constant  term,   —  —   the  omission  of 

rather  in  the  proportions,  pi  en;  pi  a;  ai 

etc.   It  is  only  by  multiplying  the  gross  the  constant  term  does  not  affect  the 


TABLE  3 

The  distribution  of  100  bids  of  relative  importance  to  each  of  nine  trails  by  three  judges, 

and  the  result  of  the  compromise 

COMPBOIUSB 
BIDS  =  0 


1.  Scholarship  (General) 

2.  Scholarship  (Departmental) , 

3.  Years  Beyond  B. A 

4.  Special  Abilities 

5.  Intelligence 

6.  Research 

7.  Attitude 

8.  Years  as  Assistant 

9.  Hours  in  Psychology 


BIDS  OF 

BIDS  OP 

BIDS  OF 

JT7DGE  A 

JUDGE  B 

JUDGEC 

10 

10 

5 

15 

15 

10 

5 

5 

7 

15 

15 

15 

15 

10 

12 

5 

5 

20 

10 

15 

15 

15 

15 

8 

10 

10 

8 

100 

100 

100 

8 
13 

5 
15 
15 
12 
12 
12 

8 


100 


D 

21 

V 

F 

K 

23 

22 

20 

Q 

13 

1 

W 

7 

H 
14 

U 
8 

N 
15 

L 
9 

A 

16 

M 

10 

I 

17 

1 

G 
11 

R 


19 


18 


12 


E 


250-274  .275-299  300-324  325-349  350-374  375-399  400-424  425-449  450-474  475-499  500-524  525-549 

Fig.  1.  Distribution  of  Final  Corrected  Weighted  Scores 


6     3- 
scores  by — ,  -,  etc.,   that   the    traits     weight  which  the  variable  receives  in 

are  truly  weighted  according  to  the         n^u  i^  '  r  .i      j  .       •     x-         i- 

o»       1  T  1.  X      1      1  -The  result  of  the  determination  of 

p  s  alone.     Inasmuch     as     standard  ,,  .  •  ,  .     •      , 

Y  the  compromise  weights  is  shown  in 

scores   differ  from   —    by    merely    a     table  3. 

Cl 


Toops :  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


469 


The  final  order  of  the  candidates  is 
shown  in  table  4.  This  is  the  order 
in  which  they  will  presumably  be 
appointed.  This  order  is  rearranged 
from  column  12  of  table  2. 

The  plotted  distribution  of  final 
corrected  weighted  scores  is  shown  in 
figure  1. 

TABLE  4 
The  final  order  of  the  candidates,  as   deter- 
mined from  column  12  of  table  2 


RANK 

(1  =  best) 

PERSON 

REVISED  FINAl 

SCORE 

(COLUMN  11)* 

1 

P 

540.705 

2 

c 

519.142 

3 

0 

493.055 

4 

s 

466.752 

5 

E 

457.372 

6 

J 

433.934 

7 

W 

423.220 

8 

U 

423.075 

9 

I. 

422.422 

10 

M 

419.497 

11 

G 

405.752 

12 

B 

400.771 

13 

Q 

397.301 

14 

H 

395.822 

15 

N 

394.690 

16 

A 

389.755 

17 

I 

387.637 

18 

T 

381.602 

19 

R 

351.459 

20 

K 

338.482 

21 

D 

295.526 

22 

F 

275.121 

23 

V 

271.470 

*  Obviously  the  decimals  in  this  column 
are  of  no  significance  and  may  be  dropped; 
they  are  here  recorded  so  that  ready  identi- 
fication of  them  in  table  2  may  be  made. 

Appendix  I  shows  the  method  of 
derivation  of  the  formula  for  supply- 
ing the  missing  data. 

Appendix  II  shows  a  proposed 
"recommendation  sheet,"  to  be  printed 


and  sent  in  the  desired  quantity  to 
applicants  to  be  distributed  by  them 
to  persons  qualified  to  recommend 
them,  who  will  in  turn  mail  them 
directly  to  the  college  authorities. 

In  addition  to  the  nine  traits  above 
treated,  it  would  seem  desirable  in 
the  future  to  add  another  variable 
"Freedom  from  special  disabilities 
and  handicaps"  in  which  a  score  of 
10  would  mean  "complete  freedom 
from  special  disabilities,"  while  0 
would  mean  "a  maximum  amount  of 
blindness,  deafness,  nervousness  and 
other  health  or  personality  and  emo- 
tional defect."  This  is  the  place 
where  debits  for  age,  immaturity, 
physical  defects,  or  other  special  or 
generahzed  defects  can  be  taken  into 
account.  Had  this  trait  been  used  in 
the  example  given,  it  would  have 
changed  the  final  standing  somewhat 
of  at  least  two  of  the  applicants  who 
were,  however,  among  the  poorer  ones 
who  will  not  be  considered  for  appoint- 
ment in  all  probability.  Obviously, 
the  supply  of  applicants  must  be 
greater  than  the  demand  if  selection  is 
to  take  place,  and  the  method  accord- 
ingly be  used. 

With  the  fist  of  table  4  at  hand,  this 
may  act  in  the  same  capacity  as  the 
"preferment  hst"  of  the  civil  service 
from  which  all  appointments  may  be 
made  to  fill  vacancies  arising  from 
resignations,  dropping  out  of  school, 
and  the  like,  and  for  increasing  the 
force  of  assistants.  It  is  accordingly 
not  necessary  to  review  the  original 
data  upon  each  occasion  when  the 
question  of  an  additional  appointment 
comes  up. 

{Manuscript  received  November  23,  1927.) 


470 


Toops :  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


APPENDIX  I 

Dbrivatiox  of  a  Formula  for  Supplying 
Missing  Scores 

Let  X„^  be  a  missing  score  of  person  A 

in  trait  m,  one  of  the  n  traits 
collected   in    common    on    all 
persons   so   far   as    data   are 
available. 
z„.   be  the  standard  score  position 
of  this  missing  score. 
If  now  we  assume  that  we  shall  supply  for 
A  on  variable  m,  the  weighted  average  of 
his  standard  score  positions  on  all  the  traits 
present,  this  allows  us  to  define  Zm^  as : 

/3l2l^  +  02Zi^  4-  .   .   .   • 
^•"A  =        /3i  +  ^2  + 


(1) 


Where  /3i,  ft, are  the  compromise  bids, 

as  above  defined,  on 
those  traits  present  in 
A's  scores. 

zi,  22, are  the  standard  scores 

on  those  traits  present 
in  A's  scores. 

Or,  stated  differently,  for  later  use, 

(PiZi  +  02Z2  + )  =  (0iZi  +  PiZi  + 

+  ^n2j    -  i'mZm  (2) 

and, 

Oi+ft+ ) 

=    (^1   +  /32  + +0j    -0m         (3) 

Where  /3m  is  the  compromise  bid  for  that 
trait  missing  (m)  among  A's 
scores;  while  z^  is  the  corre- 
sponding standard  score  of  A's 
missing  score. 


Now 


Whence 


z  = 


X  -  M 


(4) 


Zm  .      = 


Mm       X„ 


M„ 


=  ^ •     (5) 


If  we  substitute  (5)  in  (1) 
X„^       M„       Pizi^  +  0iZi^  + 


/3i  +  ft  + 


Or, 


X„.        M„       ftzi.  +ftz2.  + 


Tm  <fm 


+   ^2    + 

If  we  multiply  (7)  by  0m,  we  have. 


-  Z„^  =  -  Mm  +  0m  X 


(6) 


(7) 


/3l2i^    +  ftZ2^    + 


^l    +   ft    + 


(8) 


which  is  an  equation  for  the  table  2  miss- 
ing product;  not  a  very  useful  one,  however, 
since  expressed  as  a  function  of  standard 
scores,  which  are  not  available.  We  may 
substitute  (4)  in  (8),  and 


/3„ 


X„.    =  —  Mm  +  0mX 


-  (Xj^  -  Ml)  +  -  (X,^  -  M,)  + 


may  be  i 

\     o      \     . 

This 

-f-  Pj   -j-    • 

•e  written, 

0m    , 

r       -  — 

'■m  A     — 

M„  +    - 

0m 

+    ^2 

+    • 

.... 

[e- 

4.^'X 

A  + 

\ 

I 

-  (^-^  M.  +  ^^  M. 

\0-l                      0-2 

+  • 

•)]' 

(9) 


X 


(10) 


In  (10)  then  we  have  an  expression,  in  terms 
of  quantities  readily  ascertainable  from 
tables  2  and  1,  by  which  we  may  supply  the 
missing  score,  provided  we  assume  that 

(a)  The  standard  deviation  of  variable 
m,  with  one  or  more  of  the  N  scores 
missing  may  be  used  in  lieu  of  the 
standard  deviation  of  all  the  meas- 
ures; an  assumption  which  is  juati- 


Toops :  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


471 


fiable  if  the  scores  supplied  are  few 
in  number  and  if  the  missing  scores 
are  not  a  biased  sampling  of  the 
N  scores  of  variable  m. 
(b)  Similarly  the  mean  of  the  scores  on 
the  m  variable  may  be  used  without 
appreciable  error  to  stand  for  the 
mean  of  all  N  scores.  This  assump- 
tion is  a  fair  one  under  the  same 
circumstances  as  the  above. 

The  above  formula  can  be  made  some- 
what simpler  from  the  point  of  view  of 
practical  solution.    For  example, 


e 


X,.  +  -  X, 

^  0-2 


+ 


)- 


5io^   (11) 


where  *Sio^  is  the  sum  recorded  in  column 
10  of  A's  present  scores,  and  is  too  small  by 

at   least   the   amount  — ^  Xmx.    We  may, 

likewise,  write, 


—  Mn 


(12) 


Equation  (3)  then  becomes 

(/3i  +  ^2  + )    =  .S^  -  /9m     (13) 

Substituting  then,  equations  (13),  (11)  and 
(12),  respectively  in  (10),  we  have 


/S„ 


X„,  =  —  M„.  + 


/3« 


S&  -  Pr. 


[^'•--^(;«)  +  -^ 


(14) 


It  is  now  only  necessary  to  make  equation 
(14)  general  enough  to  allow  of  more  than 
one  of  A's  scores  to  be  missing.  Let  us 
designate  any  nimaber  of  A's  missing  scores 

■  •)  and 


by  the  series,  (X„      +  X„,     +  • 

let  Xm,     be  the  score  which  at  the  moment 

we  are  seeking  to  replace.     Then,  it  will  be 
noted,  by  reference  to  formula  (10)  that  the 


new  notation  will  affect  only,  so  far  as  nota- 
tion goes,  the  two  expressions, 


=   (/9i  +  /32  + ) 


and 

/9. 


e 


Mm  =  {  -  Ml  +  -  Mi  + 

0-2 


) 


so  that, 


+ 


Pmi  Pmt 

—  Z„,     =  — M„ 


Pmi 


S0  -    (0m,  +  Bm,  + 


X 


+ 


(~Mm,+   —Mm,+ ) 

\<T,n,  '  <^«2  /J 


(15) 


Formula  (15)  then  allows  us  to  substitute 
for  any  missing  table  2  product.     Having 

found  the  value,  ^^  ^m._^,  and  the  value 

—  Xmj^  in  similar  fashion  if  a  second  score 

is  missing,  and  so  on,  we  add  these  to  the 
SioA  score  to  obtain  a  weighted  index  for 
comparing  A  with  his  fellow  applicants. 

If  we  are  interested  in  the  score  which 
should  be  filled  in  table  1,  we  may  readily 
find  it  by  dividing  the  result  of  formula  (.15) 

by  ^. 

ffml 

APPENDIX  II 

(Front) 

Recommendation  Blank 

application  for  assistantship 
ohio  state  universitt 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  "general 
recommendations,"  written  to  no  particular 
point,  are  of  little  value  unless  one  knows 
intimately  the  writer  of  the  recommenda- 
tion.   This  intimate  acquaintance  is  lack- 


472 


Too  PS :  Selection  of  Graduate  Assistants 


ing  in  probably  a  majority  of  recommenda- 
tions for  assistantships,  scholarships  and 
fellowships.  In  order,  then,  that  our 
recommendations  may  be  more  useful  will 
you  not  please  give  specific  evidence  of  the 
below  named  candidate's  fitness  and  im- 
fitness  for  the  position  specified  on  the 
special  points  noted  below,  writing  your 
answers  on  this  sheet  and  returning  same 
directly  to  this  office,  without  allowing  it 
to  be  seen  by  the  candidate,  by  not  later 
than  March  15.  We  do  not  desire  "general 
testimonials;"  be  as  specific  as  possible;  e.g. 


"applicant  computed  a  new  learning  curve 
equation;"  "elected  to  Phi  Beta  Ivappa  at 
the  end  of  his  junior  year;"  "invented  a 
machine  for  ....;"  "has  paid  his  own 
way  through  college  and  in  addition  sup- 
ported mother  and  sister;"  has  taken 
—  hours  of  work  without  credit  so  as  to 
be  able  to  carry  through  a  certain  program 
(specified)  of  study  which  he  has  embarked 
upon;"  etc.,  etc.  Candidates  are  urged  to 
follow  up  their  requests  for  recommendations 
to  see  that  their  recommendations  are  sent  to 
this  college  by  the  date  specified,  March  15. 


Name  of  candidate (1 ) 

Applying  for (2)  in  (3) 

Department  or 


What  can  you   Bay,  specifically   (concrete 

evidence)  about  the  applicant's  fitness 

and  unfitness  in: 


(Write  answer  in  space  below  question) 

1.  General  Scholarship?     (Scho- 
lastic Honors) 


Do  not 

write  in 

this  column 


2.  Scholarship  in  the  Department 
for  which  Applicant  is  Apply- 
ing? 


3.  Years     of    College     Beyond 
Bachelor's  Degree 


(Back) 
4.  Special  Abilities  (useful  for 
this  position) :  e.g.  unusual 
statistical  or  mathematical 
ability,  shopwork,  engineer- 
ing, laboratory  or  clinical  ex- 
perience, teaching,  travel, 
drafting,  typing,  stenogra- 
phy, photography,  artistic 
ability,  calculating  machine 
operating,  mimeographing, 
grading  papers,  scientific 
background,  etc.,  etc.  accord- 
ing to  the  position  applied 
for 


5.  Intelligence.      (Quantitative 
score,  specifying  units  used) 


What  can  you  say,  specifically   (concrete' 

evidence;  about  the  applicant's  fitness 

and  unfitness  in: 


Do  not 

write  in 

this  column 


(Write  answer  in  space  below  question) 

6.  Research    and    Publications, 
Research  Promise 


7.  Attitude,  Purpose,  Ambition, 
Study  Program 


Years  of  paid  experience  in 
chosen  field.  (Evaluation  of 
its  amount  and  value.  As- 
sistantships, etc.) 


Total  Hours  Taken  in  Depart- 
ment named  at  blank  (3) 
above 


10.  Special  Disabilities  (of  health, 
character,  or  personality 
traits,  lack  of  basic  founda- 
tion, etc.)  Specify  also  any 
weaknesses  of  applicant 
which  he  should  be  helped  to 
overcome 


Additional  Remarks: 

Signature 

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Do  not  give  this  to  applicant.  Return  it 
directly  to  the  office  of  the  Graduate  School, 
Ohio  State  University,  Columbus.  Ohio. 


The  Minnesota  Mechanical  Abih'ty  Tests 

By  L.  Dewey  Anderson,  Bureau  of  Educational  Experiments,  New  York 

Mr.  Anderson  describes  three  tests  which  were  developed  in  the 
course  of  the  research  on  mechanical  ability  conducted  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Minnesota  under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Research 
Council.  These  tests,- — the  Minnesota  Assembly  Test,  the  Paper 
Formboard  Test,  and  the  Spatial  Relations  test,' — were  developed 
to  the  point  where  their  individual  reliability  was  high.  Their  valid- 
ity as  a  battery  ivas  exceptional  when  compared  with  objective 
measures  of  school  shop  work  as  a  criterion. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  industrial  psychologists  will  not  overlook 
the  splendid  leads  which  this  important  research  has  made  avail- 
able to  them. 


THE  quality  of  tests  suitable  for 
industrial  use  has  not  improved 
at  a  pace  consistent  with  the 
increased  demands  for  psychological 
measurements.  Tests  of  low  reU- 
abiUty  and  unproven  validity  are 
found  today  in  the  placement  program 
of  many  companies.  Both  the  prac- 
ticability and  economy  of  using  these 
unimproved  tests  are  open  to  question. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  article  to 
describe  three  tests,  which  have  been 
made  highly  reliable  and  which  have 
a  good,  an  already  demonstrated,  and 
a  statistically  sound  validity.  It  is 
felt  that  these  tests  will  be  of  advan- 
tage to  industry  in  that  they  wiU  give 
to  the  industrial  psychologist  a  reli- 
able means  of  measuring  mechanical 
ability. 

The  tests  were  developed  during  the 
years  1924  to  1927  at  the  University 
of  Minnesota  by  a  research  organiza- 
tion subsidized  by  the  Committee  on 


Human  IVIigration  of  the  National 
Research  Council.  A  complete  re- 
port of  this  research  is  being  pubUshed 
in  book  form.^ 

The  research  staff  worked  with  two 
purposes  in  mind:  to  develop  tests 
with  a  high  degree  of  reliability,  i.e., 
tests  which  would  give  essentially  the 
same  scores  for  an  individual  if  he 
were  re-tested;  and  to  demonstrate 
how  accurately  these  tests  would  give 
an  index  of  an  individual's  mechanical 
ability  in  an  experimental  situation. 

No  mention  will  be  made  here  of  the 
techniques  used  or  specific  results 
secured,  except  to  state  that  every 
effort  was  put  forth  to  make  each  of  the 
tests  reUable  by  (1)  adding  items,  (2) 
changing  time  Umits,  (3)  revising 
directions  and  (4)  re-ordering  the 
items  within   a   particular    test.     In 

1  "Mechanical  Ability."  By  Anderson, 
Toops  and  Ulvin.  University  of  Minnesota 
Press,  1928. 


473 


474 


Anderson:  IVIechanical  Ability  Tests 


order  to  measure  validity  the  test 
scores  were  checked  against  a  school 
criterion  of  mechanical  shop  success. 
Tliis  criterion  was  both  reUable  and 
objective.  It  was  independent  of 
teacher  ratings.  1'he  tests  were  found 
to  give  as  high  predictions  of  mechani- 
cal shop  success  as  those  given  by 
intelligence  tests  in  measuring  aca- 
demic success.  Detailed  data  con- 
cerning the  methods  of  administra- 
tion, reliabilitj''  and  validity  of  the 
three  tests  are  included  in  the  book 
already  referred  to. 

THE    MINNESOTA    ASSEMBLY    TEST 

The  test  that  has  probably  been 
used  most  frequently  as   a    test    of 
mechanical  ability  in  the  past  decade 
is  the   Stenquist   Assembly  Test,  de- 
veloped by  John  L.  Stenquist  about 
1914.      This    test    was    used    widely 
during  the  World  War  as  an  index  of 
an   individual's  mechanical  aptitude. 
This  pioneer  attempt  to  devise  a  suit- 
able  test   of   mechanical   ability   re- 
sulted in  a  measure  which  gave  good 
results  in  many  situations,  and  at  the 
time  of  its  compilation  had  a  good  re- 
liability.   Since  the  original  test  does 
not  approach  the  standards  set  up  in 
other   fields   in   reliability  or  consist- 
ency,  a    revision    was    made.     That 
the  two  tests  might  be  distinguished 
readily,  the  new  form  was  called  the 
Minnesota  Assembly  Test.     In  brief, 
this    test    consists   of    a    number    of 
mechanical  devices  which  have  been 
taken  apart;  the  subject  is  instructed 
to  assemble  the  parts  of  each  device, 
and  the  accuracy  with  which  he  does 
this  is  an    index   of    his   mechanical 
ability. 


The  original  Stenquist  Test  con- 
sisted of  ten  items.  Since  reliability 
is  dependent  in  a  large  measure  on  the 
length  of  the  test  when  suitability, 
objectivity,  etc.,  have  been  taken  into 
account,  we  added  twenty-four  to 
the  original  ten  and  made  substitu- 
tions in  two  cases  where  the  article  in 
the  Stenquist  series  could  not  be 
secured.  This  gave  us  a  test  of  thirty- 
six  items  as  follows : 

Box  A 

Item 

1.  Expansion  nut 

2.  Hose  pinch  clamp 

3.  Hunt  paper  clip 

4.  Wooden  pinch  clothes  pin 

5.  Links  of  chain  (6) 

6.  Bottle  stopper 

7.  Push  button  door  bell 

8.  Bicycle  bell 

9.  Corbin  rim  lock 
10.  Coin  purse 

BoxB 

Item 

1.  Safety  razor 

2.  Monkey  wrench 

3.  Ring  stand  clamp 

4.  Test-tube  holder 

5.  Spark  plug 

6.  Inside  calipers 

7.  Electric  plug  and  wire 

8.  Clover  leaf  coin  purse 

9.  Flat  iron  handle 
10.  Mouse  trap 

Box  C 

Item 

1.  Haemeostat 

2.  Die  holder 

3.  Pliers 

4.  Electric  light  socket 

5.  Wing  nut 

6.  Glass  drawer  knob 

7.  Rope  coupling 

8.  Kettle  cover  knob 

9.  Lock  nut 


Anderson:  ^Mechanical  Ability  Tests 


475 


10.  Fork  magneto-post 

11.  Petcock 

12.  Hose  clamp 

13.  Radio  switch 

14.  Pencil  sharpener 

15.  Air  gauge  valve 

16.  Metal  pencil 

In  the  selection  of  the  added  items, 
care  was  taken  to  include  items  which 
would  give  a  range  wider  in  difficulty. 
Through  this  precaution  the  test  was 
made  more  suitable  for  both  younger 


4.  Number  of  parts  correctly  assembled 

5.  Number  of  parts  correctly  assembled 

and  weighted  on  the  basis  of  ten 

A  statistical  analysis  indicated  that 
the  fifth  method,  namely,  "number  of 
parts  correctly  assembled  and  weighted 
on  a  basis  of  ten"  gave  a  much  greater 
reliability  and  took  only  a  fraction  of 
the  time  taken  by  the  Stenquist 
method.  The  coefficient  indicating 
the  reliability  of  the  test  is  0.9-i  (odds- 


FiG.  1.  Minnesota  Assembly  Test  Box  C  (Objects  Ready  to  be  Assembled) 


and  older  subjects  than  the  original 
test. 

In  order  to  make  the  test  easier  to 
score  and  at  the  same  time  render  the 
scores  more  objective,  the  test  was 
given  to  a  group  of  217  seventh  grade 
boys  and  their  solutions  were  scored 
in  the  following  ways: 

1.  Stenquist's  method  of  arbitrary  scores 

2.  Number  of  objects  correct  or  nearly 

correct 

3.  Number  of  objects  entirely  correct 


evens  coefficient  treated  by  the  Brown- 
Spearman  Prophecy  formula). 

The  method  of  administering  the 
test  was  also  modified.  Stenquist  al- 
lowed a  certain  amoimt  of  time  for  the 
subject  to  complete  the  entire  box, 
setting  the  time  so  that  all  but  a  few 
would  finish.  This  method  of  timing 
is  satisfactory  only  for  tests  in  which 
the  items  are  scaled  in  difficulty. 
Some  subjects  may  spend  consider- 
able time  on  an  item  occurring  early 


476 


Anderson:  Mechanical  Ability  Tests 


in  the  series.  Consequently  they  will 
receive  much  lower  scores  than  the 
individual  with  etjual  ability  who 
passes  on  to  the  items  that  he  can 
solve.  To  obviate  this  factor,  time 
limits  were  set  for  each  item  in  the 
series.  The  examiner  is  required  to 
call  out  at  prescribed  times,  "Go  to 
Object  2,"  "Go  to  Object  3,"  etc. 

A  shortened  form  of  the  test  con- 
sisting of  two  ten-item  boxes,  which 
of  course  has  a  lower  rehability  than 
the  longer  form,  was  compiled  for  use 
in  test  programs  where  the  saving  of 
time  is  imperative. 

THE    PAPER    FORMBOARD    TEST 

Test  7  of  the  Army  Group  Examina- 
tion Beta,  Form  O,  for  use  with  illit- 


FiG.    2.  The    First    Item   in    the    Paper 

FoRMBOARD   TeST 

(The  dotted  line  in  the  large  figure  indicates 
how  the  small  figures  would  fit  into  it) 

erates,  is  similar  in  plan  to  the  usual 
formboards.  In  each  item  there  is  a 
large  figure  and  two  or  more  smaller 
ones,  which  are  segments  of  the  large 
one.  The  subject  indicates  by  draw- 
ing Unes  in  the  large  figure  how  the 
small  ones  could  be  fitted  into  it. 
This  test  formed  the  basis  for  the 
Minnesota  Paper  Formboard  tests, 
Series  A  and  B.  Two  four-page  blanks 
were  constructed  consisting  of  56  items 
each,  the  items  deing  arranged  in  order 
of  difficulty. 

This  test  has  a  high  reliability,  0.90, 


and  gave  the  same  index  of  efficiency 
in  the  prediction  of  shop  success  as  the 
Minnesota  Assembly  Test.  The  Paper 
Formboard  requires  fifteen  minutes 
for  each  series,  and  is  scored  by  the 
use  of  stencils. 

THE  SPATIAL  RELATION'S  TEST 

Dr.  H.  C.  Link,  while  connected 
with  the  AMnchester  Arms  Company, 
devised  a  formboard  test  which  had 
two  advantages.  The  test  consisted 
of  two  cut-out  boards  and  one  set  of 
blocks.  The  blocks  were  placed  in 
one  board  by  the  examiner  and  the 
board  turned  over  on  the  table  so  that 
the  blocks  fell  out.  The  subject  then 
placed  the  blocks  in  the  second  board, 
the  advantage  here  being  that  the  loca- 
tion of  the  blocks  on  the  table  was  the 
same  for  all  subjects.  The  second 
advantage  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  test 
combined  discrimination  of  both  form 
and  size.  For  each  form  in  the  boards 
there  were  three  different  sizes  of 
blocks.  Thus,  it  was  necessary  for 
the  subjects  to  make  their  judgments 
on  the  form  of  the  block  as  well  as  on 
its  size. 

This  test,  however,  is  not  long 
enough  to  give  a  high  reliability.  In 
the  Minnesota  revision  two  pairs  of 
boards  were  made,  each  containing 
fifty-four  cut-outs.  The  principle  of 
inverting  the  ))oard  in  order  to  secure 
a  standard  arrangement  of  blocks  was 
discarded  and  in  its  place  was  sub- 
stituted the  practice  of  using  boards 
with  no  back  base.  When  the  board 
is  lifted  from  the  table  the  blocks  fall 
through  the  cut-outs  onto  the  table. 
This  method,  has  an  advantage  over 
the  Link  method,  since  it  does  not 
invert  the  position  of  the  blocks.     This 


Anderson  :  ^Mechanical  Ability  Tests 


477 


test  has  the  lowest  reliability  of  the 
three  tests  here  described,  but  has 
approximately  the  same  validity. 

The  fact  that  these  tests  have  the 
same  validity  as  measured  by  correla- 
tion coefficients  does  not  mean  that 
they  are  measuring  the  same  abihty. 
The  lowness  of  the  intercorrelations  of 
the  test  scores  indicates  that  the  tests 
are  measuring  different  aspects  of  the 
abihty  which  we  designate  roughly  as 


VALIDITY  OF  THE  BATTERY  OF 
TESTS 

In  order  to  determine  the  predic- 
tive power  of  these  tests  when  used 
together  as  a  battery,  the  scores  in 
shop  success  were  divided  into  six 
classifications  and  labelled  A,  B,  C, 
D,  E,  and  F;  A  being  a  high  and  F  a 
low  score.  The  test  battery  scores 
were    treated    in    the    same  manner. 


Fig.    3.  The  Spatial  Relations  Test.    Examiner  Removing   Board  from  Table   in 

Preparation   for   the    Subject   to    Place  the  Blocks  in  the  Other 

Board  Which  Lies  Directly  Before  Him 


mechanical  abihty.  The  existence  of 
low  intercorrelations  indicates,  that 
by  combining  the  tests  into  a  battery 
by  multiplying  the  scores  of  each  test 
by  constant  weights  and  adding  the 
results  for  each  individual  a  higher 
validity  coefficient  may  result.  In 
the  w^ork  at  ^Minnesota  this  was  done, 
and  it  was  found  that  the  prediction 
of  the  battery  was  considerably  greater 
than  that  of  any  single  test. 


Upon   analysis   the   following   results 
were  obtained: 

1.  Fifty  per  cent  of  the  cases  were 
located  exactly,  that  is,  the  boys  with 
test  scores  of  A  received  shop  suc- 
cess rankings  of  A,  the  boys  with  test 
scores  of  B  received  shop  scores  of  B, 
etc. 

2.  Forty-five  per  cent  of  the  cases 
were  located  one  position  away  from 
absolute    accurate    position,    that    is^ 


478 


Anderson:  Mechanical  Ability  Tests 


the  boys  with  test  scores  of  A  re- 
ceiyed  shop  success  scores  of  B,  the  boys 
with  test  scores  of  B  received  shop 
scores  of  either  A  or  C,  and  the  boys 
with  test  scores  of  C  received  shop 
scores  of  either  B  or  D. 

3.  Five  per  cent,  or  the  remaining 
cases,  were  located  two  positions  away 
from  absolute  position,  that  is,  the 
bovs  with  test  scores  of   C  received 


shop  scores  of  either  A  or  E,  and  so 
on. 

Because  of  the  very  definite  success, 
as  shown  by  the  above  figures,  in  pre- 
dicting capacity  for  success  in  me- 
chanical shop  courses,  it  is  important 
that  the  vahie  of  these  tests  should 
be  determined  in  actual  industrial 
situations  as  well. 

(Manuscript  received  February  1,  1928.) 


\ 


Book  Reviews 


TOBACCO  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY 

By  Pierre  Schrumpf-Pierron,  M.D.    New  York:  Paul  B. 
Hoeber,  1927.    Pp.  134 

Reviewed  by  Max  Freyd 


This  is  a  companion  volume  to  O'Shea's 
"Tobacco  and  Mental  Efficiency,"  although 
it  is  very  much  briefer  and  confines  itself 
strictly  to  a  comprehensive  summary  of 
research  findings.  Both  volumes  are  pub- 
lished under  the  auspices  of  the  Committee 
to  Study  the  Tobacco  Problem,  an  inter- 
national group  including  in  its  membership 
a  large  number  of  scientists. 

The  chapters  in  the  present  volume  are 
short  and  very  readable.  An  annotated 
bibliography  of  close  to  700  titles  is  in- 
cluded. 

We  learn  from  this  volume  that  tobacco 
smoke  contains  these  poisonous  sub- 
stances,— pyridine,  thiotetrapyridine,  iso- 
dipyridine,  prussic  acid,  pyrolin,  ammo- 
nia, collidine,  formaldehyde,  and  carbon 
monoxide.  Luckily,  however,  these  sub- 
stances occur  in  minute  quantities,  and 
their  harmfulness  for  very  heavy  smokers 
is  minimized  through  a  gradually  estab- 


lished tolerance.  Among  the  harmful 
effects  of  excessive  smoking  are, — head- 
aches, insomnia,  heightened  blood  pres- 
sure, laryngitis,  partial  impotence,  lapses 
of  memory,  difficulties  of  utterance, 
weakening  of  vision,  and  trembling.  These 
usually  disappear  upon  renouncing  the  habit. 

Small  doses  of  nicotine  increase  the 
peristaltic  movements  of  the  stomach  and 
intestines,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  tobacco 
smoke  inhibits  the  secretions  of  the  salivary 
glands. 

Opinions  differ  on  the  health  of  workers 
in  tobacco  factories;  modern  working  con- 
ditions, however,  are  such  that  no  especially 
harmful  effects  can  be  expected. 

This  is  a  volume  which  should  be  pored 
over  and  heeded  by  every  person  who  uses 
tobacco  to  excess.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  it 
will  not  be  used  as  ammunition  by  re- 
formers, who  will  ignore  the  social  benefits 
of  tobacco  for  the  light  smoker. 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION— ADMINISTRATION  AND  SUPERVISION 

By  H.  J.  Smith.    New  York:  Century  Co.,  1927.    Pp.  334 
Reviewed  by  H.  C.  Link 


The  author  wastes  no  time  discussing 
the  problem  of  industrial  education  or 
trying  to  define  its  scope  and  limitations. 
These  matters  he  takes  for  granted  and  goes 
directly  to  what  he  considers  the  heart  of 
the  problem, — a  study  of  the  present 
status  of  those  professionally  responsible 
for  the  administration  of  industrial  educa- 
tion. 


This  study  takes  the  form  of  a  compre- 
hensive collection  of  data, — the  number, 
size,  and  location  of  cities  employing  special 
officers  or  staffs  for  industrial  education, 
titles  used,  relation  of  these  officers  to  the 
general  educational  staff,  experience  and 
training  of  these  officers,  salaries,  duties  and 
responsibilities,  their  relation  with  business 
firms,  with  trade  unions,  with  private  and 


479 


480 


Book  Reviews 


parochial  schools,  with  patrons  and  pupils, 
etc.  These  data  were  obtained  from  a 
questionnaire  sent  to  all  directors  of  voca- 
tional and  industrial  education  and  com- 
piled by  the  author. 

From  these  facts  Smith  makes  his  deduc- 
tions, the  most  important  of  which  are: 

a.  That  the  position,  although  having  a 
recognized  status  and  offering  fair  re- 
muneration, varies  extensively  in  nearly  all 
the  factors  which  go  to  maintain  it. 

b.  "No  well  defined  program  of  training 
for  the  position  exists  anj^where  in  the 
country  at  this  time."  He  suggests  certain 
elements  in  the  development  of  an  adequate 
training  program  but,  most  valuable  of  all, 
probably,  is  his  compilation  of  sources 
from  which  the  material  of  such  a  course 
could  be  developed. 

Smith's  conclusions  are  sound,  the  data 
which  supports  them  is  admirably  pre- 
sented. It  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  fails 
to  probe  the  problem  more  deeplj', — that  he 
is  satisfied  to  treat  it  as  one  might  ex- 
pect it  to  be  handled  at  a  teachers'  con- 
vention. 

The  lack  of  standardization  in  industrial 
education  and  in  the  training  of  its  super- 
visors is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  is  no 
fundamental  set  of  principles  upon  which  a 
cohe.sive  system  of  fact  and  method  can  be 
established.  No  Mo.ses  has  yet  arisen  in  this 
field  and  no  latter  day  disciples  have  been 
inspired  with  a  single  vision  of  what  indus- 
trial education  can  and  should  be.  In  the 
field  of  general  education,  such  a  lack  makes 
little  difference,  because  the  results  of  such 


education  meet  no  specific  test  but  only  the 
test  of  life  in  general.  Industrial  educa- 
tion, however,  must  prepare  students  for 
success  in  specific  pha.ses  of  life.  Here 
there  is  little  room  for  floundering  and  no 
hope  for  the  survival  of  academic  accidents. 
In  a  paragraph  on  "Relations  with  Manu- 
facturing and  Business  Firms"  Smith  points 
out  that  fifty-one  out  of  one  hundred  and 
thirtj'-four  officials  reported  no  coopera- 
tion with  industrial  concerns.  The  author 
dismisses  this  fact  in  three  sentences: 
"This  condition  may  be  largely  accounted 
for  by  the  absence  of  strictly  vocational 
schools  or  courses  in  their  cities.  For  the 
most  effective  conduct  of  general  industrial 
arts  courses,  even,  it  would  seem  that  some 
sort  of  working  relationship  would  be 
appropriate.  Certainly,  the  courses  of  voca- 
tional intent  must  be  based  upon  these 
mutual  understandings  and  services." 

Here  is  a  fundamental  principle  which 
deserves  a  book  in  itself.  Industrial  Edu- 
cation without  such  contact  and  coopera- 
tion is  unthinkable!  Before  any  adequate 
standardization  in  the  training  of  directors 
of  industrial  education  can  be  achieved,  the 
basis  of  their  contacts  with  industry  must 
be  defined  and  fundamental  methods  for 
obtaining  and  utilizing  industrial  informa- 
tion must  be  developed.  These  and  other 
principles  the  reviewer  has  pointed  out 
elsewhere,  which  may  indeed  account  for 
his  impression  that  Smith's  book  would 
have  been  materially  strengthened  by  the 
reiteration  and  e.xemplification  of  these 
or  of  better  principles. 


WHAT  THE  EMPLOYER  THINKS 

By   J.   David   Houser.     Cambridge:  Harvard    University 
Press,  1927.     Pp.  226 

Reviewed  by  Merrill  R.  Lott 


Mr.  J.  David  Hou.ser  has  written  "What 
the  Employer  Thinks"  to  give  the  results 
of  a  nation-wide  study  of  industrial  organi- 
zations, made  to  determine  the  attitude  of 
executives  towards  the  human  relationships 
in  their  respective  organizations.  The 
work  described  was  done  under  the  Jacob 
Wertheim  Research  Fellowship  for  the 
Betterment  of  Industrial  Relations. 


The  first  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to 
a  statement  of  the  various  observations 
made  in  the  industries  investigated. 

The  answers  of  the  major  executives  to 
eleven  specific  questions  are  recorded. 
In  many  cases  these  answers  are  contrasted 
with  opinions  expressed  by  the  sub-execu- 
tives and  other  employees  within  the 
organization  studied. 


Book  Reviews 


481 


In  summarizing  his  findings,  Mr.  Houser 
reports: 

1.  Few  expressions  indicate  any  marked 

sense  of  social  obligations  on  the 
part  of  chief  executives  towards 
their  employees. 

2.  Centralized     employment     work     is 

generally  accepted,  but  Personnel 
Work  is  conducted  in  a  routine 
manner,  with  little  real  vision  as  to 
the  possible  scope  of  its  functions. 

3.  Executives  are  generally  vague  when 

expressing  their  attitudes  toward 
employees. 

4.  There  is  an  outstanding  lack  of  ade- 

quate methods  by  which  the  Chief 
Executive  can  learn  of  the  treat- 
ment given  to  employees. 

5.  There  is  a  lack  of  definite  policy  for 

sub-executives  to  follow  in  the 
field  of  Personnel. 

6.  Most     instructions     given     to     sub- 

executives  as  to  what  their  rela- 
tions should  be  with  employees, 
are  covered  by  the  phrase,  "Be 
decent." 

7.  Chief   executives   usually   rely   upon 

the  regular  organization  channels 
to  determine  the  attitude  of  work- 
ers, hence  the  information  secured 
is  apt  to  be  biased. 

8.  Executives   show   little    thought    re- 

garding what  they  desire  the  em- 
ployees to  think  of  executive  atti- 
tudes. 

9.  Executives  seem  to  feel  that  they  have 

discharged  their  obligations  to 
workers  when  they  have  done  what 
they  could  to  satisfy  physical  and 
financial  needs. 

10.  Few  executives  sense  any  obligations 

for  the  personal  development  of 
workers. 

11.  The  majority  of  executives  feel  that 

"welfare  work"  should  be  done 
regardless  of  the  employee's  appre- 
ciation for  their  efforts  in  this 
respect. 

Mr.  Houser  makes  a  decided  contribu- 
tion to  improved  management  procedures, 
by  outlining  a  method  for  making  a  scien- 
tific evaluation  of  employee   attitude  to- 


ward management  in  industry.  He  shows 
how  an  executive  may  determine  the 
strong  and  weak  points  of  an  organization, 
on  the  basis  of  fact. 

The  description  could  have  been  made 
more  helpful  if  Mr.  Houser  had  gone  into 
greater  detail  with  regard  to  the  methods 
advocated,  but  enough  has  been  given  to 
indicate  the  tremendously  important  re- 
sults that  may  be  secured  through  his  plan 
of  analysis  and  evaluation  of  employee 
reactions. 

Mr.  Houser's  plan  for  a  given  organiza- 
tion involves  interviewing  a  certain  per- 
centage of  employees  individually  by  an 
outside  person  who  has  no  preconceived 
knowledge  of  the  industry.  Carefully 
standardized  questions,  applying  to  twenty 
factors,  are  used  by  the  interviewer.  These 
questions  are  given  in  the  same  way  to  each 
employee  whose  opinion  is  solicited.  Each 
response  is  compared  mentally  with  five 
types  of  answers  which,  when  graded,  indi- 
cate a  range  in  attitude  from  Hostility, 
through  Indifference,  to  Enthusiasm. 

By  comparing  each  employee's  response 
with  this  graded  scale  of  answer  types,  a 
numerical  value  can  be  given.  By  adding 
the  numerical  value  of  the  responses  a  single 
figure  is  obtained  which  expresses  the 
attitude  of  the  individual  employee. 

For  the  entire  company,  averages  are 
taken  of  the  scores  for  each  factor  and 
then  added  to  determine  the  attitude  of  the 
organization  as  a  whole. 

Apparently,  Mr.  Houser  gives  the  same 
weight  to  each  of  the  twenty  factors. 
While  the  correctness  of  making  all  factors 
of  equal  importance  may  be  open  to  ques- 
tion, he  has  undoubtedly  suggested  a  pro- 
cedure of  great  value  for  securing  a  scientific 
analysis  of  employee  attitudes. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  principles 
contained  in  Mr.  Houser's  plan  may  be  more 
widely  used  by  executives.  Their  earnest 
consideration  of  the  results  of  such  analyses 
of  employer-employee  relationships  will 
accelerate  the  achievement  of  better  under- 
standings between  men  and  management. 

For  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  Mr. 
Houser's  book  is  a  most  helpful  contribu- 
tion to  the  betterment  of  industrial  rela- 
tions. 


482 


Book  Reviews 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  PERSONALITY 

By  P.  F.  Valentine.    New  York:  D.  Appleton  and  Co., 
1927.    Pp.  393 

Reviewed  by  Ordway  Tead 


This  book  is  comparable  in  one  way,  at 
least,  to  Professor  Thomson's,  "The  Springs 
of  Human  Action."  For  it  too  is  an  effort 
to  rewrite  the  essentials  of  psychology  from 
a  special  point  of  view,  not  as  in  that  case 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a  proper  under- 
standing of  motives,  but  of  the  behavior  of 
normal  people  as  a  whole,  as  represented 
by  the  fact  of  personality.  The  purpose  of 
the  present  volume  is  to  set  forth  a  consist- 
ent   theory    of    personality    derived   from 


contemporary  psychology,  and  this  result 
is  accomplished  through  a  consideration  of 
the  subjects  usually  treated  in  an  intro- 
ductory psychology  text.  Growing  as  the 
book  presumably  does  out  of  the  author's 
teaching  experience,  it  represents  a  clear 
setting  forth  of  the  introductory  material. 
Its  claim  to  originality  lies  particularly  in 
the  fact  of  its  emphasis  upon  the  idea  of 
personality  as  a  whole  as  a  key  to  the 
proper  understanding  of  human  nature. 


CLINICAL  AND  ABNORMAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

By  J.  E.  Wallace  Wallin.     Boston:  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
1927.    Pp.  649 

Reviewed  by  A.  H.  Sutherland 


This  timely  book  is  well  worth  the  atten- 
tion of  "educators,  psychologists  and  men- 
tal hygiene  workers"  for  whom  it  is 
intended.  It  is  an  account  of  the  methods 
used  by  Dr.  Wallin,  interpreted  in  the  light 
of  his  experience  through  many  years  in 
the  clinic  at  St.  Louis.  The  discussions 
slide  rather  hastily  over  stock  methods  of 
mental  and  educational  testing,  and  direct 
attention  again  to  methods  of  child  study. 
There  are  excellent  statements  of  problems, 
suggestions  as  to  technique  for  attack- 
ing the  problems,  and  a  good  background  of 
theory.  The  organization  of  the  book  and 
chapter  headings  carry  one  back  to  struc- 
tural psychology  to  a  large  degree,  but 
since  this  is  the  language  of  education,  and 
especially  of  the  classroom,  the  book  will 
be  the  more  intelligible  on  that  account. 
The  modern  statistical-tester-psychologist 
will  find  little  here  to  interest  him,  unless 
he  is  willing  to  fix  his  attention  on  the 
questions  that  are  concerned  in  the 
individual  child,  and  what  to  do  about 
it. 


A  special  plea  is  made  for  the  study  of  the 
influence  upon  a  problem  child  of  the  many 
environmental  factors  present, — bodily  con- 
ditions, bad  mental  and  educational  hy- 
giene, irregular  mental  development  and 
psychopathic  constitution, — with  methods 
which  have  been  developed  in  earlier  days 
in  the  psychological  laboratory.  A  recog- 
nition of  the  different  types  of  behavior, 
such  as  spontaneous,  purposeful  to  defi- 
nitely arranged  situations,  verbal,  nega- 
tivistic,  postural  and  facial  expression, 
and  the  attitudes  and  dispositions,  is 
clearly  in  evidence.  Those  who  are  familiar 
with  the  classroom  realize  the  importance 
of  these  matters;  those  who  are  familiar 
with  Binet  and  group  testers  know  how 
little  attention  they  receive. 

The  distinction  is  clearly  made  between 
examination  and  instruction.  This  book 
deals  with  examining.  It  is  beyond  the 
scope  of  the  book  to  follow  through  into  the 
class  room  to  determine  what  happens  to 
the  child  after  the  examination  is  made. 
In   the   completely   professional   examina- 


Book  Reviews 


483 


tion,  this  is  as  desirable  to  the  psychologist 
as  to  the  physician.  Can  one  imagine  what 
the  physician  would  do  without  his  daily 
visit  to  the  bedside  to  check  and  change  his 
diagnosis  and  prescription  by  the  results 
observed  under  treatment?  The  psycho- 
logical examiner  who  has  no  such  oppor- 
tunity (I  believe  it  is  quite  unusual  for  him 
to  have  such  an  opportunity,  at  least  under 
his  own  control  and  direction)  is  handi- 
capped. But  if  this  book  points  to  the 
future,  as  I  think  it  does,  there  is  going  to 


be  a  demand  upon  the  psychologist  and 
intelligent  educator  considerably  beyond 
the  examination, — in  the  class  room  de- 
voted to  the  recovery  of  the  patient.  For, 
of  those  examined,  only  a  small  proportion 
are  found  to  be  irrecoverable.  While  the 
great  majority  of  children,  if  examined  by 
these  careful  methods,  will  be  found  far 
from  well  rounded  in  their  development, 
filled  with  inequalities  of  means  of  expres- 
sion, most  will  profit  by  carefully  directed 
education. 


HOW  TO  CONSTRUCT  THE  TRUE-FALSE  EXAMINATION 

By  Chas.  C.  Weidemann.    New  York:  Teachers  College, 
Columbia  University,  1926.    Pp.  118 

Reviewed  by  Fred  Telford 


The  remark  made  by  a  well  known  educa- 
tor that  some  person  ought  to  be  able  to 
earn  a  good  salary  translating  doctors' 
dissertations  into  clear  Anglo-Saxon  applies 
with  great  force  to  Dr.  Weidemann's  "How 
to  Construct  the  True-False  Examina- 
tion." The  candidate  for  a  doctor's  degree 
is  compelled  to  meet  certain  requirements 
as  to  the  content  and  form  of  his  thesis, 
but  there  is  no  good  reason  why,  if  he  turns 
out  a  product  worth  publication  for  dis- 
tribution to  special  or  general  groups,  the 
form  of  the  thesis  should  be  maintained. 
Dr.  Weidemann  has  some  material  which,  if 
put  into  concise  form — say  ten  pages — for 
busy  people,  would  be  useful  to  those  trying 
to  construct  true-false  tests.  The  number 
who  will  be  willing  to  wade  through  118 
pages  of  text,  mostly  taken  up  with  ex- 
tremely cumbersome  machinery  that  pro- 
duces only  a  meager  grist  as  the  wheels 
slowly  turn,  certainly  is  not  large.  The 
world  needs  and  ought  to  have  the  few 
things  Dr.  Weidemann  has  found  out, 
but  it  is  little  likely  to  search  for  them 
in  the  waste  of  words  in  the  published 
text. 

The  title  used  by  the  author  is  to  some 
extent  misleading.  After  a  very  brief  pref- 
ace he  states,  in  the  first  sentence  of  the 
introduction,    that    "the    purpose    of    the 


study  is  to  demonstrate  how  the  true-false 
statement  may  be  improved";  the  remain- 
der of  the  book  is  taken  up  with  improve- 
ment rather  than  the  mechanics  or  tech- 
nique of  construction.  The  main  value  of 
the  book,  for  those  who  will  take  the  trouble 
to  find  the  significant  parts,  lies  in  the 
analysis  of  certain  pitfalls  in  the  use  of 
true-false  statements  and  the  suggestion 
of  proper  procedures  to  avoid  them;  the 
remarks  and  conclusions  as  to  faulty 
language,  such  as  double  negatives, 
"always"  and  "never,"  and  comparative 
statements,  have  real  value  for  those  who 
have  to  prepare  true-false  tests.  The 
author's  conclusions  as  to  the  form  in  which 
the  testee  indicates  his  response  should  be 
put  are  not  so  convincing  owing  to  the  fact 
that  he  has  disregarded  data  accumulated 
by  others  which  lead  to  different  conclu- 
sions. In  many  other  cases  the  evidence 
and  conclusions  leave  the  discriminating 
reader  doubtful  because  only  meager  data 
are  given  and  the  findings  are  based  upon 
the  judgments  of  a  few  individuals  who 
without  doubt  are  as  competent  as  fallible 
human  beings  can  be  but  whose  beliefs, 
after  all,  do  not  carry  the  conviction  that 
comes  from  objective  evidence. 

Those  interested  in  the  mechanics  of  a 
doctor's  dissertation  and  the  form  in  which 


484 


New  Books 


the  descriptive  matter,  the  data,  and  the 
conclusions  may  be  put  will  find  Dr.  Weide- 
mann's  book  absorbing.  Those  looking  for 
help  in  dealing  with  the  troublesome  true- 


false  statement  will  find  chapter  six  helpful, 
but,  as  to  the  rest  of  the  book,  they  are 
likely  to  wish  that  the  author  or  the  pub- 
lisher had  the  gift  of  conciseness. 


PERSONAL  HYGIENE  FOR  WOMEN 

By    Clelia    Duel    Mosher.    Stanford    University,    Cal.: 
Stanford  University  Press,  1927.     Pp.  86 

Reviewed  by  Edith  Mulhall  Achilles 


One  of  the  most  important  points  in  this 
book  is  the  author's  insistence  that  women 
have  no  physical  handicap  but  only  a  tradi- 
tional one.  "Times  demand  women  at 
maximum  capacity  for  work  every  day  in 
the  month."  Her  figures  that  19  per  cent 
of  college  women  tested  by  her  in  1894  and 
68  per  cent  in  1915-1916  reported  no  pain 
during  menstrual  periods  are  encouraging. 
We  hope  that  the  change  in  the  fashions 
which  she  believes  has  caused  this  will  re- 
main. But  until  the  per  cent  can  be  in- 
creased beyond  68  per  cent  we  cannot 
ignore   the   possibility  of    "menstrual   ab- 


sences" in  industry.  We  need  further 
research  and  it  is  hoped  that  workers  in  this 
field  will  not  group  women  of  all  ages  to- 
gether but  will  study  the  possible  age 
differences  among  women  themselves. 

In  her  final  chapter  Dr.  Mosher  refers 
to  the  rewards  saying  that  a  woman  is 
free  to  express  her  genius  in  whatsoever 
form  she  chooses.  Although  she  refers  to 
motherhood  in  an  earlier  chapter  in  regard 
to  health,  she  does  not  mention  the  problem 
of  the  mother  having  the  freedom,  or  lack 
of  opportunity,  "to  express  her  genius  in 
whatsoever  form  she  chooses." 


New  Books 


Abelson,  Harold  Herbert.  The  Im- 
provement of  Intelligence  Testing.  New 
York:  Teachers  College,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, 1927.     75  p.     Apply. 

Allen,  Frederick  J.  Practice  in  Vocational 
Guidance;  a  Book  of  Readings.  New  York : 
McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  1927.  306 
p.    $2.50. 

Beard,  Maby  R.  A  Short  History  of  the 
American  Labor  Movement.  New  York: 
Macmillan,  1927.    212  p.    80ff. 

Book,  William  Frederick.  How  to  Suc- 
ceed in  College.  Baltimore :  Warwick  and 
York,  1927.     192  p.     $1.60. 

Burton,  Ernest  De  Witt.  Education  in  a 
Democratic  World.  Chicago:  University 
of  Chicago  Press,  1927.     184  p.     $2.00. 

Dane,  Edmund.  Wages  and  Labour  Costs; 
a  Statement  of  the  Economic  Laws  and 
Theory  of  Wages.  New  York:  Macmillan 
Company,  1927.    203  p.      $1.80. 


Dummer,  Ethel  S.  The  Unconscious;  a 
Symposium.  New  York:  A.  A.  Knopf, 
Inc.,  1927.    260  p.    $2.50. 

Foster,  William  Zebuion.  Misleaders  of 
Labor.  New  York:  Trade  Union  Educa- 
tional League,  2  W.  15th  Street,  1927. 
336  p.    $1.75. 

Gordon,  R.  G.  The  Neurotic  Personality. 
New  York:  Harcourt,  Brace  and  Com- 
pany, 1927.    310  p.    $3.75. 

Greenly,  A.  J.  Psychology  as  a  Sales  Fac- 
tor. New  York:  Isaac  Pitman  and  Sons, 
1927.    223  p.    $3.00. 

Hamilton,  Walton,  and  May  Stacy.  The 
Control  of  Wages.  New  York:  Macmillan, 
1927.     196  p.    80^. 

Leigh,  Ruth.  Training  the  Retail  Clerk 
to  Sell  Your  Product.  New  York:  Mc- 
Graw-Hill Book  Company,  1927.  239  p. 
$3.00. 


New  Books 


485 


Metcalf,  Henry  Clayton.  Business 
Management  as  a  Profession.  Chicago: 
A.  W.  Shaw,  1927.    316  p.    $6.00. 

Mitchell,  Thomas  Walker.  Problems  in 
Psychopathology.  New  York:  Harcourt, 
Brace  and  Company,  1927.    195  p.    $3.50. 

MoND,  Sir  Alfred.  Industry  and  Politics. 
New  York :  Macmillan,  1927.  346  p.   $5.00. 

MuNTz,  Earl  Edward.  Race  Contact. 
New  York:  Century  Company,  1927. 
421  p.    $3.75. 

National  Research  Council.  Handbook  of 
Scientific  and  Technical  Societies  and 
Institutions  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  Washington,  D.  C. :  Author, 
National  Academy  of  Sciences,  1927. 
304  p.    $3.50;  paper,  $3.00. 

Pavlov,  1.  P.  Conditioned  Reflexes;  an 
Investigation  of  the  Physiological  Activity 
of  the  Cerebral  Cortex.  New  York:  The 
Oxford  Press,  1927.     446  p.     $9.50. 

ScHiBSBY,  Marian.  Handbook  for  Immi- 
grants to  the  United  States.  New  York: 
Foreign  Language  Information  Service, 
1927.     180  p.     Apply. 

Selekman,  Ben  M.  Postponing  Strikes. 
New  York:  Russell  Sage  Foundation, 
1927.    405  p.    $2.50. 

Shenton,  Herbert  Newhard.  The  Prac- 
tical Application  to  Sociology.  New  York : 
Columbia  University  Press,  1927.  259  p. 
$3.50. 


Smith,  Meredith.  Education  and  the 
Integration  of  Behavior.  New  York: 
Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 
1927.    98  p.     Apply. 

SoROKiN,  PiTiRiM  Aleksandrovich.  Con- 
temporary Sociological  Theories.  New 
York :  Harper  &  Brothers,  1928.  808  p. 
$4.00. 

Stamp,  Josiah.  On  stimulus  in  the  Eco- 
nomic Life;  the  Rede  Lecture.  New  York: 
Macmillan  Company,  1927.    58  p.    $1.25. 

U.  S.  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce.  Employment  and  Cost  of 
Living  for  Americans  in  the  Far  East. 
Washington,  D.  C. :  Government  Print- 
ing Office,  Superintendent  of  Documents, 
1927.    37  p.     (2  p.  bibl.)     Apply. 

Wilkins,  Ernest  Hatch.  The  Changing 
College.  Chicago :  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1927.     143  p.    $1.50. 

Williams,  Sidney  James.  The  Manual  of 
Industrial  Safety.  Chicago:  A.  W.  Shaw 
Company,  1927.    210  p.    $2.50. 

Whipple,  Mrs  Helen  Davis.  Making 
Citizens  of  the  Mentally  Limited;  a  Cur- 
riculum for  the  Special  Class.  Blooming- 
ton,  111.:  Public  School  Publishing  Com- 
pany.   380  p.    $2.00. 

Willoughby,  Raymond  Boyce.  Family 
Similarities  in  Mental-Test  Abilities. 
Worcester,  Massachusetts:  Clark  Uni- 
versity, 1927.    $2.00. 


THE  PERSONNEL  JOURNAL,  VOL.  VI,  NO.  6 


News  Notes 


PERSONNEL  RESEARCH   FEDERATION 
ACTIVITIES   OF  MEMBER  ORGANIZATIONS 

Industrial  Relations  Counselors,  Inc. 

The  following  four  projects  represent  the 
major  personnel  activities  in  the  research 
section  of  the  Industrial  Relations  Counse- 
lors: 

1.  "Vacations  for  Industrial  Workers," 
by  C.  M.  Mills,  Published  in  1927  by  the 
Ronald  Press. 

2.  "Unemployment  Compensation,"  by 
Mary  B.  Gilson  and  Bryce  M.  Stewart,  in 
process. 

3.  "Pensions  and  Retirement  Plans," 
by  Bryce  M.  Stewart,  in  process. 

4.  "Trends  in  Industrial  Relations  and 
Personnel  Management,"  by  William 
Lange,  under  direction  of  a  committee  of 
the  American  Management  Association, 
J.  Walter  Dietz,  Chairman,  also  in  process. 

A  special  Industrial  Relations  Library, 
with  Miss  L.  H.  Morley  in  charge,  is  being 
developed. 

A  member  of  the  Industrial  Relations 
Counselors  Staff,  Mr.  Roderic  Olzendam,  is 
located  in  Geneva  at  the  International 
Labor  Office  which  serves  as  a  clearing  house 
for  information  on  industrial  relations 
matters.  At  this  post,  Mr.  Olzendam  en- 
deavors to  supply  information  sought  by 
inquirers  from  other  countries  and  secures 
for  this  organization  information  pertinent 
to  their  work. 

Vocational  Service  for  Juniors 

The  chief  piece  of  research  scheduled 
for  this  j'ear  is  a  study  of  seven  years  of 
junior  employment.  The  data  to  be  com- 
piled consist  of  the  following: 

1 .  Employment  records  of  approximately 
26,000  boys  and  girls  between  14  and  18  who 
have  applied  at  our  offices  from  October, 


1920,  to  October,  1927.  These  records  con- 
tain the  following  information  regarding 
the  applicants:  age,  sex,  nationality,  par- 
ents' occupation,  amount  of  schooling, 
nature  of  work  sought,  employment  record 
consisting  of  number  and  kind  of  jobs  held, 
length  of  service,  wage  received,  and  reason 
for  leaving. 

2.  Records  of  orders  received  from  em- 
ployers and  investigations  of  same  covering 
a  similar  period  which  afford  information 
on  the  following  points:  type  of  industry 
employing  minors,  kind  of  work  open  to 
them,  wage  paid,  age,  nationality,  and 
amount  of  education  and  experience 
required. 

A  comparison  of  these  records  it  is  hoped 
will  furnish  information  which  will  be  of 
value  regarding  the  work  opportunities  for 
minors  in  New  York  and  the  extent  to  which 
the  amount  and  kind  of  education  received 
by  the  applicants  has  influenced  their 
chance  and  choice  of  emplojTnent.  An 
attempt  also  will  be  made  to  relate  this  to 
the  data  of  general  economic  conditions  in 
the  years  covered. 

Wellesley  College 

The  outstanding  activities  at  Wellesley 
College  during  the  past  year  were  as  follows: 

1 .  A  study  of  the  summer  work  in  which  a 
typical  class  (1927)  engaged  during  the  three 
summers  of  its  connection  with  Wellesley. 
This  study  was  made  with  the  idea  of  finding 
out  how  the  summer  work  might  be  made 
more  useful  vocationally  in  a  college  of  this 
type. 

2.  Improving  the  form  and  testing  the 
veracity  of  personality  ratings.  This  is 
done  in  connection  with  the  Psychology 
Department  and  includes  self-ratings  by 
the  students  in  a  variety  of  forms,  the  same 
forms  l)eing  tested  by  a  picked  group  of  the 
faculty.  This  second  study  is  not  com- 
pleted. 


486 


News  Notes 


487 


3.  The  interview  is  being  organized  and 
extended.  Fifty-minute  interviews  are 
given  to  the  juniors  by  the  associate  in 
the  Personnel  Bureau,  in  place  of  the  briefer 
interviews  of  last  year.  All  freshmen  are 
interviewed  by  the  Freshman  Dean;  sopho- 
mores and  seniors  by  the  Director  of  the 
Bureau.  It  is  the  aim  of  the  Bureau  to 
make  these  interviews  of  a  progressive  na- 
ture over  the  four  years,  so  that  their 
method  and  content  differ  quite  widely  from 
year  to  year. 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  Wharton  School, 
Industrial  Research  Department 

These  studies  are  either  in  process  now 
or  are  definitely  planned  to  begin  within  the 
next  two  years  at  the  Wharton  School. 

I.  Sttidies  of  Wages,  Earnings  and  Work- 
ing Opportunity. 

A.  A  Study  of  Earnings  and  Rates  of 

Pay  in  the  Different  Occupations 
in  144  Metal  Plants  in  Philadel- 
phia. This  is  a  study  being 
made  in  cooperation  with  the 
Metal  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion of  Philadelphia,  and  based 
upon  actual  payroll  data  sub- 
mitted by  the  firms. 

B.  A  Study  of  Earnings  and  Working 

Opportunity  in  the  Tapestry  In- 
dustry. 

C.  A  Study  of  the  Relations  of  Earn- 

ings to  Production,  in  Foundry 
Industries  in  Philadelphia. 
II.  Metal  and  Physical  Problems  of  Indus- 
trial Unrest. 

A.  The  Effect  of  Physical  and  Chemi- 

cal Properties  of  the  Blood  on 
Industrial  Behavior.  This  is  an 
inquiry  being  made  into  the 
physical  and  mental  causes  of 
industrial  unrest  by  means  of 
physical  and  mental  examination 
of  7500  individuals. 

B.  An  Inquiry  to  Determine  the  Place 

of  Rest  Periods  in  Industrial 
Occupations.  This  is  a  study 
which  it  is  proposed  to  make  with 
the  advisory  assistance  of  a  stu- 
dent of  industrial  fatigue  in  Great 
Britain. 


C.  The  adjustment  of  the  Individual 
to  His  Industrial  Environment. 
This  study  is  being  made  in  co- 
operation with  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company  to  determine 
the  reactions  of  individual 
workers  to  their  jobs  and  the  job 
environments  and  the  reasons  for 
those  reactions. 
III.  Studies  of  Managers,  Foremen  and  Other 
Executives. 

A.  A  series  of  Studies  of  Managers, 
Foremen  and  Other  Executives. 
These  inquiries  recognize  that  the 
influence  of  the  manager, — 
whether  owner-manager,  depart- 
ment superintendent  or  foreman, 
— is  of  overshadowing  importance 
in  determining  whether  human 
relations  in  industry  shall  be  co- 
operative, wholesome  and  effici- 
ent, or  belligerent,  inhuman  and 
nonproductive;  and  they  seek  to 
throw  light  upon  the  problems  in- 
volved in  the  selection,  training, 
and  development  of  an  adequate 
executive  leadership. 
IV.  Studies  in  Personnel  Policies  and 
Methods,  and  in  Labor  Turnover. 

A.  An    Evaluation    of    the    Effective- 

ness of  Personnel  Policies  and 
Methods.  This  is  a  study  now 
in  process  in  cooperation  with 
the  Metal  Manufacturers'  Asso- 
ciation of  Philadelphia. 

B.  The  Study  of  Labor  Turnover  by 

Industries.  This  is  a  continua- 
tion of  the  seven  years'  study  of 
labor  turnover  on  the  basis  of 
comparison  by  industries  (tex- 
tiles, chemicals,  paper,  wood- 
working industries,  printing, 
boots  and  shoes,  and  retail  es- 
tablishments), in  order  to  de- 
velop a  norm  for  each  industry 
with  which  each  plant  may  com- 
pare its  own  experience. 

C.  A  Series  of  Studies  of  Crafts.    Each 

study  is  to  cover  the  Problems 
of  Training,  Experience,  Promo- 
tion and  Attitudes  toward  Work 
in  the  Craft.  These  studies 
would  resemble  the  study  already 
made  of  the  toolmakers'  trade. 


488 


News  Notes 


D.  A  Study  of  Standards  of  Work- 
manship, Labor  Turnover  and 
Conditions  of  Kmploj-ment  in 
Standard  Machine  Tool  Occupa- 
tions in  Philadelphia  Metal 
Plants. 
V.  Studies  of  the  Economic  Bases  of  Indus- 
trial Stability. 

A.  A  study  of  the  Causes  of  the  Recent 

Great  Increases  in  the  Produc- 
tivity of  Labor  in  the  United 
States.  This  is  an  investigation 
into  the  causes  of  the  unpre- 
cedented gain  in  productivity  of 
American  industry  during  the 
last  eight  years, — a  phenomenon 
which  has  already  been  the  sub- 
ject of  study  by  a  number  of 
especially  appointed  Commis- 
sions from  Europe. 

B.  A  Study  to  Determine  the  Economic 

Place  of  Philadelphia  as  a  Tex- 
tile Manufacturing  Center.  The 
depression  in  certain  branches  of 
the  textile  industry  during  the 
last  two  years  has  been  in  sharp 
contrast  to  the  general  prosper- 
ity. A  study  and  analysis  of  the 
causes  of  this  phenomenon  is 
being  undertaken  in  cooperation 
with  influential  factories  in  the 
textile  industry. 

C.  A  Series  of  Studies  of  Methods  of 

Stabilizing  Industrial  Activity. 
This  is  a  series  of  inquiries  into 
methods  of  stabilization  such  as 
adjustment  by  manufacturing 
concerns  to  cyclical  and  seasonal 
irregularity  of  work. 

D.  A  Study  of  the  Influence  of  Foreign 

and  Domestic  Competition  upon 
the  Philadelphia  Tapestry  Indus- 
try. 

E.  Development  of   the   Shipbuilding 

Industry  in  Philadelphia  and 
Vicinity. 

This  list  of  studies  should  be  considered 
as  illustrative  only  of  the  type  of  investiga- 
tion undertaken  and  to  be  undertaken  by 
the  Department  of  Industrial  Research. 

Since  its  establishment  in  1921,  the  De- 


partment has  completed  the  following  in- 
vestigations: 

I.  A  Study  of  Foreman  Training,  A 
study  undertaken  cooperatively 
with  the  Philadelphia  Personnel 
Association. 
II.  A  Study  of  the  Character  and  Value 
of  Plant  Papers.  A  study  under- 
taken in  cooperation  with  the  edi- 
tors of  papers  in  industrial  concerns. 

III.  A  Continuing  Study  and  Analysis  of 

the  Character  and  Causes  of  Labor 
Turnover,  Extending  from  1921  to 
to  Date.  This  study  has  been  made 
in  cooperation  with: 

a.  Twenty-one  of  Philadelphia's  em- 

ploying concerns  not  organized 
in  any  association. 

b.  The  Metal  Manufacturers'  Asso- 

ciation of  Philadelphia. 

c.  Metal    manufacturing    groups    in 

New  York,  Detroit  and  Milwau- 
kee. 

IV.  A   Study   of  Absenteeism.     A   study 

made  continuously  for  four  years  in 
cooperation  with  four  textile  firms. 
V.  A  Series  of  Studies  made  during  1922- 
23  for  the  Last  United  States  Coal 
Commission. 

a.  Labor  Relations  in  the  Bituminous 

Industry. 

b.  Labor  Relations  in  the  Anthracite 

Industry. 

c.  Earnings     of     Bituminous     Mine 

Workers. 

d.  Earnings     of      Anthracite     Mine 

Workers. 

e.  Wage    Rates    in    the     .\nthracite 

Industry. 

f.  Wage    Rates    in    the     Bituminous 

Industry. 

(Note:  In   a  number  of   articles,   in 

further  studies  and  in  one  book, 

the  staff  of  the  department  have 

supplemented  the.se  .studies  by 

interpretative  summaries  of  the 

original  investigations.) 

VI.  Trends  in  Wage-Earners'  Savings  in 

Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania.      A 

study  undertaken  to  measure  the 

extraordinary  extent  to  which,  and 


News  Notes 


489 


the  new  agencies  through  which, 
wage-earners  were  becoming  savers 
and  investors. 
VII.  Problems  of  Skill  and  Training  in  the 
Toolmakers'  Trade.  A  study  of 
the  methods  by  which  proficiency 
is  acquired,  the  effect  of  changes  of 
equipment  and  of  the  things  which 
to  the  worker  seem  important  in 
the  toolmaker  trade. 
VIII.  An  Index  of  Advertising  for  Labor  in 
Particular  Occupations. 
IX.  A  Study  of  the  Mental  and  Physical 
Factors  Involved  in  Industrial  Un- 
rest. A  study  made  in  cooperation 
with  a  number  of  textile  firms  in 
Philadelphia. 

The  following  studies  are  now  in  proc- 
ess:— 

I.  An  Evaluation  of  the  Effectiveness  of 
Personnel  Policies  and  Methods  in 
55  Metal  Plants.     A  study  made  in 
cooperation  with  the  Metal  Manu- 
facturers' Association  of  Philadel- 
phia. 
II.  Earnings,    Employment,    and   Condi- 
tions of  Work  among  Members  of 
the   Tapestry  Weavers'  Associa- 
tion. 
III.  A  Comparison  of  Wage  Differentials 
in  Four  Standard  Machine  Tool 
Occupations.      {Engine     Lathes, 
Milling  Machines,  Drill  Presses 
and       Turrett      Lathes.).     This 
study   involves   a  well   defined 
nomenclature,    hourly,    weekly 
and    annual    earnings    with    a 
study  of  labor  turnover,  experi- 
ence in  the  trade,  working  op- 
portunity, and  methods  of  pay- 
ment. 

Nearly  all  these  studies  have  led  to  the 
publication  of  results  in  articles  or  mono- 
graphs or  both. 

PERSONNEL    WORK    AT    WEST    VIRGINIA 
UNIVERSITY 

West  Virginia  University  has  developed 
a  program  of  personnel  work  through  the 
office  of  the  Dean  of  Men,  Harry  E.  Stone. 

A  "Time  Accounting  Sheet  for  Freshmen 


Men"  devised  by  Dean  Stone  was  used 
effectively  with  six  hundred  entering  men 
last  fall.  It  is  characterized  by  its  de- 
tailed analysis  of  possible  daily  activities 
of  freshman  men,  and  by  its  provision  for 
self-observation. 

A  new  "Personal  Quality  Blank"  for  rat- 
ing men  has  been  devised  and  used  this  year. 
It  increases  the  number  of  ratable  qualities 
and  substitutes  descriptive  phrases  for 
such  terms  as  "weak,"  "average,"  "good," 
and  "exceptional."  It  calls  for  a  rating  on 
reliability,  mental  caliber,  industry,  force- 
fulness,  command  of  English,  personal  ap- 
pearance, and  agreeability. 

When  Dean  Stone  came  to  West  Virginia 
University  in  1922  as  its  first  Dean  of  Men, 
little  progress  in  personnel  work  had  been 
made.  Intelligence  tests  were  given  for 
the  first  time  to  all  freshmen  in  1923.  In 
1924  every  freshman  man  was  required  to 
fill  out  a  personnel  record  in  Dean  Stone's 
office.  This  practice  has  continued  and 
these  forms  have  been  of  great  service  as  a 
basis  for  personal  interviews,  in  answering 
inquiries  from  many  sources,  and  in  supply- 
ing information  to  instructors,  class  officers, 
deans,  and  to  the  President. 

Since  1924  weekly  guidance  conferences, 
established  on  the  advice  of  Dean  Stone, 
have  been  continued  under  his  direction. 
A  larger  use  of  student  leaders,  and  a  more 
direct  attack  on  freshman  problems  have 
characterized  these  meetings  during  the 
present  year. 

Additional  occupational,  educational, 
and  personal  guidance  has  been  given 
through  occupational  leaflets  on  careers, 
which  a  survey  showed  to  be  of  greatest 
interest  to  University  men,  and  through  a 
series  of  "Letters  to  Freshmen." 

Greater  interest  in  the  library,  and  par- 
ticularly in  those  books  that  relate  to  voca- 
tions, college  life,  methods  of  study,  and 
college  problems  has  been  reported  by  the 
University  librarian  as  a  result  of  these 
interviews,  conferences,  letters  and  leaflets. 

THE    PERSONAL   INTERVIEW 

An  Annotated  Bibliography 

A  classified  and  annotated  bibliography 
of  206  titles  on  the  personal  interview  has 


490 


News  Notes 


been  prepared  hy  Dr.  Bruce  V.  Moore  of 
the  Personnel  Research  federation's  staff. 
This  bibliography  has  been  assembled  after 
a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  literature  in 
English.  It  is  the  first  step  in  an  intensive 
investigation  of  the  interview  as  a  technique 
of  fact-finding  in  industrial  relations  in- 
vestigations. 

This  study  focuses  on  the  interview  as  a 
means  of  securing  information  about  per- 
sonal experiences  and  attitudes  of  workers 
and  supervisors  toward  personnel  practices, 
working  conditions,  policies  of  management 
and  similar  aspects  of  industrial  relations. 
It  is  thought,  however,  that  the  bibliogra- 
phy will  be  of  interest,  not  only  to  industrial 
investigators,  but  also  to  employment 
managers,  vocational  counselors,  social 
workers,  reporters,  psychiatrists,  psycholo- 
gists, and  others  who  may  wish  to  scrutinize 
their  ways  of  securing  information  face  to 
face.  The  titles  are  classified  in  eight 
sections  as  follows: 

I.  General  studies  of  the  interview  and 

related  techniques. 
II.  The    interview  for    fact-finding    in 

research. 
III.  The  interview  in  personnel  adminis- 
tration. 
IV.  The  interview  in  educational  and 
vocational  guidance  and  in  college 
personnel  work. 
V.  The   interview   in  the   psychiatric 

and  psychological  clinic. 
VI.  The  interview  in  social  case  work. 
VII.  Contributions  of  studies  in  legal 

evidence  and  testimony. 
VIII.  The  interview  in  journalism. 

Copies  may  be  secured  by  forwarding 
75  cents  to  the  Personnel  Research  Federa- 
tion, 40  West  Fortieth  Street,  New  York. 

PKNSION    PLANS 

The  tendency  toward  contributory  plans 
for  accumulating  reserves  for  pensions  is 
illustrated  in  the  change  of  procedure  re- 
cently announced  by  the  General  Electric 
Company.  According  to  the  new  plan,  em- 
ploj'ees  pay  in  a  small  part  of  their  wages 
from  year  to  year  to  a  pension  fund,  supple- 


menting the  old  age  pension  system  which 
the  Company  has  had  in  effect  since  1912. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Company  an- 
nounced the  creation  of  a  pension  trust. 
Instead  of  carrying  a  reserve  on  its  balance 
sheet  sufficient  to  meet  its  obligation  to 
employees  reaching  the  retiring  age, 
$5,000,000  has  been  turned  over  to  the  trus- 
tees of  the  new  trust  by  the  company. 

Pensions  at  present  are  computed  at  Ij 
per  cent  of  the  earnings  of  employees  for 
each  year  of  continuous  service.  Under 
the  contributory  plan  of  additional  pen- 
sions, which  it  is  proposed  to  make  effective 
January  1,  1929,  I5  per  cent  of  the  annual 
earnings  of  the  employees  will  be  turned 
over  to  the  custodians,  a  board  of  seven  on 
which  the  employees  will  have  representa- 
tion. This  monej'  will  be  invested  and  held 
for  the  employees  individuallj'.  Interest 
will  be  allowed  to  accumulate. 

The  retiring  age  in  the  past  has  been  70 
years  for  men.  Under  the  new  plan  it  is 
proposed  to  make  this  65  years  for  men 
and,  as  at  present,  60  years  for  women. 

At  the  time  an  employee  reaches  the  re- 
tiring age,  the  custodians  of  the  fund  will 
pay  the  accumulated  amount  in  full  or  in 
installments.  If  an  employee  leaves  the 
services  of  the  company,  or  dies  before 
reaching  the  pension  age,  the  amount  ac- 
cumulated, with  interest,  will  be  given  him 
or  his  estate. 

FELLOWSHIPS    AND   SCHOLARSHIPS 
FOR   WOMEN 

Smith  College  Compilation 

Smith  College  has  recently  issued  a  pub- 
lication entitled  "Graduate  Fellowships 
and  Scholarships  Open  to  Women."  This 
compilation  is  a  summary  of  fellowships 
and  scholarships  which  are  op>en  to  Ameri- 
can College  Women  for  study  in  the  United 
States,  other  than  those  offered  only  to 
graduates  or  members  of  the  graduate 
schools  of  the  institutions  awarding  them. 

The  compilation  gives  the  following  in- 
formation concerning  fellowships  and 
scholarships:  the  subject  if  it  is  designated; 
the  name  of  the  fellowship  or  scholarship; 


News  Notes 


491 


the  place  where  studying  must  be  done;  the 
amount  of  the  award;  the  requirements  of 
award  and  tenure;  the  address  to  which 
requests  for  detailed  information  should 
be  sent;  and  the  date  before  which  applica- 
tions are  due. 

The  forty-four  pages  comprise  a  very 
valuable  summary  on  the  subject,  and  is  a 
fund  of  information  which  should  be  called 
to  the  attention  of  graduate  students  by 
research  workers.  Copies  of  the  pamphlet 
may  be  obtained  by  forwarding  twenty- 
five  cents  to  the  Office  of  the  Dean,  Smith 
College,  Northampton,  Massachusetts. 

Fellowships  in  Social-Economic  Research 

The  Department  of  Research  of  the 
Women's  Educational  and  Industrial 
Union,  Boston,  announces  three  fellowships 
for  women  in  social-economic  research. 
The  fellowships  carry  a  stipend  of  S500 
and  have  provision  for  clerical  assistance 
and  travelling  expenses.  Candidates  are 
required  to  have  a  degree  from  a  college 
of  good  standing,  training  in  economics  or 
sociology,  and  satisfactory  references  as  to 
health,  character,  and  fitness.  Research 
fellows  are  expected  to  devote  their  entire 
time  for  ten  months  to  the  training  given 
by  the  Department  of  Research.  Appli- 
cations must  be  filed  before  May  1st.  For 
further  information,  address  Department  of 
Research,  Women's  Educational  and  Indus- 
trial Union,  264  Boylston  Street,  Boston  17, 
Massachusetts. 

CONFERENCE  ON  GUIDANCE  AND  PERSONNEL 

In  connection  with  the  installation  of  the 
Dean  of  Teachers  College,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, there  will  be  held  a  National  Con- 
ference on  Education  on  April  10  and  11,  to 
consider  present  conditions  in  professional 
training  and  modes  of  its  future  develop- 
ment in  response  to  new  social  demands. 
Tuesday,  the  tenth,  will  be  devoted  to 
general  sessions  addressed  by  speakers  of 
national  prominence.  Wednesday  will  be 
devoted  to  special  conferences  addressed 
by  specialists  in  the  various  fields  of  educa- 
tion. 


Professor  Harry  D.  Kitson  is  making  ar- 
rangements for  a  special  conference  on 
Guidance  and  Personnel.  There  will  be 
two  sessions;  one  Wednesday  afternoon, 
April  11,  2  p.m.;  the  other,  a  dinner  meeting 
Tuesday  evening,  April  10,  at  which  Dr.  John 
M.  Brewer  will  be  guest  speaker. 

A  tentative  program  for  the  Wednesday 
session  of  the  Conference  on  Guidance  and 
Personnel  is  as  follows: 

A.  Researches  in  Guidance  and  Personnel 

carried  on  at  Teachers  College. 
I.  Educational   Guidance   of   College 
Students 
Charles  A.  Drake 
Dorothy  Jones 
II.  FoUow-Up     Studies    of     Working 
Children 
Emily  G.  Palmer 
III.  A  Personnel  investigation  of  Execu- 
tives  in   Life    Insurance   Com- 
panies 
Harry  A.  Hopf 
IV.  A  Personnel  Investigation  of  Offi- 
cers in  the  Army  and  Navy 
Roy  N.  Anderson 
V.  Investigation    of     the     Guidance 
Being  Done  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
in  New  York  City 
Jerome  H.  Bentley 

B.  VI.  Address  "Relation  Between  Voca- 

tional Guidance  and  Educational 
Guidance"  by  Dr.  John  M. 
Brewer,  Graduate  School  of 
Education,  Harvard  University. 

The  Philadelphia  and  New  York  City 
Branches  of  the  National  Vocational  Guid- 
ance Association  have  expressed  their  de- 
sire to  use  this  as  the  occasion  of  a  regional 
conference  they  have  been  planning.  Ac- 
cordingly they  are  arranging  another  ses- 
sion for  Wednesday  morning. 

MIDWEST   PERSONNEL   OFFICERS   TO   MEET 

At  Easter  time,  on  April  6  and  7,  the 
college  personnel  officers  of  the  Middle 
West  will  hold  a  conference  at  Yellow 
Springs,  Ohio,  as  the  guests  of  Antioch 
College. 


492 


News  Notes 


CORNELL  TJNIVEBSITY 

Dr.  R.  S.  Uhrbrock,  of  the  Department  of 
Psychology  at  the  University  of  Wyoming, 
has  accepted  a  position  at  Cornell  Univer- 
sity. He  will  offer  courses  in  psychology  to 
students  of  hotel  administration  and  will 
be  responsible  for  research  and  service  in 
personnel  for  this  group. 

COLLEGE   ATHLETICS    AND   SCHOLARSHIP 

Under  this  title  the  Carnegie  Foundation 
for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching  reprints 
in  pamphlet  form  a  section  of  its  annual 
report  for  1927.  The  subject  matter  of  the 
pamphlet  is  based  in  large  part  upon  a  study 
undertaken  by  the  Personnel  Research 
Federation  for  the  Carnegie  Foundation  in 
1926  and  1927,  concerning  the  comparative 
academic  achievement  of  the  athletes  and 
the  non-athletes  in  one  class  at  Columbia 
College.  The  methods  and  conclusions  of 
this  very  carefully  planned  study  are  given 
in  detail. 

It  is  hoped  that  other  colleges  will  repeat 
the  study  in  order  to  determine  for  them- 
selves in  this  objective  fashion  the  influence 
of  athletics  on  scholarship  in  their  institu- 


tions. The  pamphlet  may  be  obtained  on 
application  to  the  Carnegie  Foundation 
for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching,  522  Fifth 
Avenue,  New  York. 

PSVCHOTECHNICS 

A  fifth  International  Conference  of  Psy- 
chotechnics  (or  Technopsychology)  will 
meet  at  Utrecht  from  September  10  to  14, 
1928,  under  the  presidency  of  Professor  F. 
Roels. 

During  the  conference,  the  mornings  will 
be  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  three  main 
problems — temperament  and  character, 
educability,  accidents — in  connection  with 
papers  by  experts,  which  will  be  communi- 
cated beforehand;  one  of  the  afternoons 
to  a  limited  number  of  lectures  by  individual 
members  on  some  special  subject;  another 
to  the  discussion  of  the  reports  of  the  per- 
manent committees. 

Those  who  wish  to  attend  the  conference 
are  requested  to  send  their  names  and  ad- 
dresses to  the  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  E.  de  Quay, 
Psychological  Laboratory,  Wittevrouwen- 
straat  9,  Utrecht,  Holland.  Further  in- 
formation concerning  the  conference  may  be 
obtained  by  writing  to  the  same  address. 


Current  Periodicals 

Prepared  by  Linda  H.  Morley,  Industrial  Relations  Counselors,  Inc. 


ABILITY  TESTS 

Bureau  of  Public  Personnel  Administration. 
Statistical  evaluation  of  test  results. 
Public  Personnel  Studies,  Vol.  6,  p.  2-11. 
January,  1928. 

Preliminary  publication  of  data  to  be 
incorporated  in  a  book. 

Dixon,  Ronald  F.  What  makes  a  good 
cashier?  Industrial  Psychology,  Vol.  3, 
p.  21-27.    January,  1928. 

A  painstaking  scientific  survey  of  de- 
partment store  cashiers  reveals  useful 
methods  and  results  for  the  employment 
office.  A  description  of  the  work  of  Dr. 
Anderson  at  R.  H.  Macy's. 


Newman,  Dr.  W.  A,  Youth  or  age  best? 
Industrial  Psychology,  Vol.  3,  p.  9. 
January,  1928. 

Statistics  showing  the  age  at  which  a 
number  of  different  occupations  are  at 
their  best. 

application  blanks 

Bartlett,  E.  D.  (Director  of  Office  of 
Personnel,  Atlantic  Refining  Company, 
Philadelphia;  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Tests  for  Employees  of  the  American 
Management  Association)  Putting  the 
application  blank  to  work.  Industrial 
Psychology,  Vol.  3,  p.  5-9.  January, 
1928. 

Dead  application  blanks  can  be  put  to 
vital  use.  How  one  company  keeps  them 
alive.    Illustrated  with  specimen  blanks. 

AUSTRALIAN    COUNCIL    FOR    SCIENTIFIC    AND 
INDUSTRIAL  RESEARCH 

Pearce,  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  George  F.  (Sena- 
tor [Australia]  P.  C;  K.  C.  V.  O.;  Vice- 
President  of  the  executive  council) 
Council  for  Scientific  and  Industrial  Re- 


search: its  organization  and  work.    Jour- 
nal of  the  Council  for  Scientific  and  In 
dustrial    Research,     Vol.    1,    p.    11-27. 
August,  1927. 

Outline    of    the    operations    of    this 
Australian  department. 


Honor  men  in  industry.  Survey,  Vol.  59, 
p.  495.    January  15,  1928. 

Human  Foundation's  awards  for  Honor 
Men  in  Industry,  to  be  made  October  15, 
1928  by  the  Harmon  Foundation. 

BONUS   SYSTEM 

Attendance  bonus.  Service  Letter  on  Indus- 
trial Relations,  New  Series,  No.  3,  p. 
1-3.     February  5,  1928. 

Shows  combined  results  of  two  investi- 
gations into  extent  and  causes  of  absence 
among  industrial  workers,  conducted  in 
1919,  also  the  average  time  lost  per  em- 
ployee through  absenteeism. 
Baird,  D.  G.  Bonuses  replace  supervision. 
Management,  Vol.  30,  p.  42-46.  Feb- 
ruary, 1928. 

Putting  a  premium  on  brains  and  integ- 
rity enables  management  to  solve  a 
peculiar  production  problem. 

COST   OF  LIVING 

Brissenden,  Paul  F.  (Ph.D.;  Professor 
Columbia  University)  Changes  in  the 
purchasing  power  of  manufacturing  labor 
incomes  in  the  United  States,  1899-1925. 
Weltwirtschaftliches  Archiv.,  Vol.  27, 
p.  122-162.     January,  1928. 

This  paper  will  appear,  in  somewhat 
expanded  form,  as  a  chapter  in  a  mono- 
graph soon  to  be  published  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Commerce,  Bureau 
of  the  Census,  under  the  title:  Earnings 
of  Factory  Workers,  1899-1925. 


493 


494 


Current  Periodicals 


EDUCATION 

RuML,  Frances.  Collegiate  education  for 
busi7iess.  Journal  of  Business  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  Vol.  1,  p.  1-59. 
January,  1928. 

Report  made  by  the  Commission  on 
Correlation  of  Secondary  and  Collegiate 
Education  with  particular  reference  to 
Business  Education.  The  commission 
consists  of  the  following  members: 
L.  C.  Marshall,  Chairman;  I.  L.  Sharf- 
man,  C.  O.  Ruggles,  W.  H.  Keikhofer, 
and  R.  E.  Heilman. 

EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION  IN 
MANAGEMENT 

Carpenter,  O.  F.  (Labor  Staff,  Hart, 
Schaffner  and  Marx,  Chicago)  Experi- 
ments in  industrial  democracy .  Factory 
and  Industrial  Management,  Vol.  75,  p. 
289-293.     February,  1928. 

This  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  articles  by 
Mr.  Carpenter.  Three  outstanding  ex- 
amples of  industrial  democracy  are  to  be 
examined:  Prinz-Beiderman  Company; 
American  Multigraph  Company;  Good- 
year Tire  and  Rubber  Company.  This 
article  deals  with  the  Prinz-Beiderman 
Company. 

Fitch,  Howard  L.  (General  Traffic  Mana- 
ger, Bell  Telephone  Company  of  Penn- 
sylvania) Technique  of  holding  employee 
representation  council  or  committee  meet- 
ings: where  female  and  often  young  workers 
predominate.  Personnel,  Vol.  4,  p.  147- 
152.     February,  1928. 

Suggests  five  activities  for  such  meet- 
ings. 

Hall,  E.  K.  (Vice-president,  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company) 
What  is  employee  representation?  Per- 
sonnel, Vol.  4,  p.  71-84.  February,  1928. 
Answers  to  the  questions:  Is  it  manage- 
ment sharing?  Or  industrial  democracy? 
Or  a  form  of  labor  organization?  Or 
leadership  through  consultation? 

Leiserson,  William  M.  (Ph.D. ;  Professor 
of  Economics,  Antioch  College)  Ac- 
complishments and  significance  of  employee 
representation.  Personnel,  Vol.  4,  p. 
119-135.     February,  1928. 

Scholarly  presentation  of  the  whole 
movement  of  employee  representation. 


Porter,  Harold  B.  (General  Plant  Mana- 
ger, Bell  Telephone  Company  of  Penn- 
sylvania) Technique  of  holding  council 
or  cojnmittee  meetings:  male  manual  work- 
ers predominating.  Personnel,  Vol.  4,  p. 
13&-146.     February,  1928. 

Joint  conferences  of  the  plant  depart- 
ment of  the  Pennsylvania  Bell  Telephone 
Company  described. 

EXECUTIVES 

American  Council  on  Education.  Finding 
potential  leaders.  Educational  Record 
Supplement,  Xo.  6,  21  p.  January,  1928. 
What  does  a  leader  do?  by  C.  R.  Mann, 
and  Leadership  as  a  response  to  environ- 
ment by  H.  S.  Person. 

Atkins,  Paul  M.  (Engineer-Economist, 
Emmerich  and  Company,  Chicago)  Can 
we  measure  management?  Factory  and 
Industrial  Management,  Vol.  75,  p.  284- 
286.     February,  1928. 

Standards  described  for  measuring  the 
worth  of  a  manager. 


SwARTZ,  Nellie.  (Director,  Bureau  of 
Women  in  Industry,  Labor  Department, 
N.  Y.)  Rest  pauses  as  adopted  by  five 
industrial  establishments.  Industrial 
Bulletin  (New  York),  Vol.  7,  p.  76,  101. 
December,  1927. 

Described  the  plans  of  a  laundry, 
biscuit  company,  two  towel  supply  houses 
and  a  battery  factory. 

incentives 

Mansfield,  Justine.  Sales  ijicentives. 
Office  Economist,  Vol.  9,  p.  3-4,  13. 
December,  1927. 

Indicates  twelve  methods  for  stimulat- 
ing salesmen  and  seven  plans  for  paying 
salesmen. 

industrial  fatigue  research  board  of 
great  britain 

Fryer,  Douglas.  (University  Heights 
faculty  of  the  New  York  University; 
Associate  Editor,  Industrial  Psychology) 
Progress  in  Great  Britain  by  the  Industrial 
Fatigue  Research  Board.  Industrial  Psy- 
chology, Vol.  3,  p.  39-46.  January,  1928. 
An  abstract  of  research  of  wide  indus- 
trial utility. 


Current  Periodicals 


495 


JOINT  RELATIONS 

Ching,  C.  S.  (Manager  of  Industrial 
Relations,  United  States  Rubber  Com- 
pany, New  York).  Personnel  work  as  a 
profit  maker,  a  development  for  1928. 
Factory  and  Industrial  Management, 
Vol.  75,  p.  83-84.    January,  1928. 

Survey  of  general  situation  in  the  in- 
dustrial relations  field. 

Gardiner,  Glenn  L.  Home  conditions  and 
the  worker's  disposition  on  the  job.  In- 
dustrial Psychology,  Vol.  3,  p.  28-33. 
January,  1928. 

Ugly  dispositions  often  start  at  home 
and  the  supervisor  must  wear  kid  gloves. 

Schwab,  Charles  M.  Human  engineering. 
Law  and  Labor,  Vol.  10,  p.  14-20.  Jan- 
uary, 1928. 

Presidential  address  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers. 

LABOR — legislation 

Labor  Legislation  of  1927.  American  Labor 
Legislation  Review,  Vol.  17,  p.  304-347. 
December,  1927. 

Is  arranged  as  follows:  Analysis  of 
subjects  by  States-Individual  bargaining 
(Payment  of  wages;  mechanics'  liens 
and  wage  preference) ;  Collective  bargain- 
ing (Trade  unions;  trade  disputes); 
Minimum  wage  (Public  work);  Hours 
(Maximum  hours;  private  employment; 
rest  periods);  Employment  (Private  em- 
ployment offices;  public  employment 
offices;  public  work;  miscellaneous); 
Safety  and  health  (Prohibition;  regula- 
tion); Social  insurance  (Employers'  li- 
ability; workmen's  compensation;  old  age 
pensions;  health  insurance  and  general 
social  insurance);  Administration.  Top- 
ical index  by  States. 

LAB  OR — TURNOVER 

Goddard,  Isobel.  Methodology  of  the 
measurement  of  labour  turnover.  Eco- 
nomics, Number  21,  p.  362-368.  Decem- 
ber, 1927. 

Labor  turnover  in  American  factories  during 
1926-1927.  Monthly  Labor  Review,  Vol. 
26,  p.  43.    January,  1928. 

Figures  collected  by  the  Metropolitan 


Life  Insurance  Company.  Earlier  figures 
were  published  in  the  Labor  Review  for 
March,  1927,  p.  12-13. 
One  company's  procedure  for  reduction  of 
personnel.  Service  Letter  on  Industrial 
Relations,  New  Series,  No.  1,  p.  3. 
January  5,  1928. 

Details  of  a  plan  which  has  been  worked 
out  to  eliminate  as  many  of  the  obvious 
disadvantages  as  possible. 

LEEDS  &  NORTHRUP  COMPANY 

Bruijre,  Robert  W.  (Associate  Editor  of 
the  Survey;  Secretary  on  Industrial 
Relations,  J.  C.  Penney  Foundation) 
With  a  Quaker  employer  in  his  factory. 
A  Quaker  employer  on  Democracy.  Sur- 
vey, Vol.  59,  p.  421-425,  January  1,  1928; 
p.  568-571,  596.     February  1,    1928. 

Case  history  of  the  Leeds  and  Northrup 
Company. 

length  of  service 

Rowland,  E.     (Lincoln  National  Life  In- 
surance   Company)    Average    period    of 
service  for  young  business  girls.    Industrial 
Psychology,  Vol.  3,  p.  9.     January,  1928. 
Given  as  three  years. 

LIBRARIES — METHODS 

Cadt,  F.  E.  (President  of  the  Special 
Libraries  Association;  Director  of  the 
Research  Library  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  Nela  Park,  Cleveland)  How 
business  libraries  serve  industry.  Execu- 
tive, Vol.  1,  p.  19-20,  28.  December,  1927. 
The  day  has  passed  when  any  executive 
can  keep  personal  track  of  all  the  details 
of  his  business.  He  must  rely  on  others 
and  accept  their  records  of  activity  and 
achievement.  The  business  library  may 
be  his  treasure  house  of  information  and 
the  business  librarian  one  of  his  most 
useful  assistants. 

mental  hygiene 

Harrington,  Milton  (M.D.;  formerly 
Consultant  in  Mental  Hygiene,  Dart- 
mouth College)  College  mental  hygiene 
department.  Survey,  Vol.  59,  p.  510-512. 
January  15,  1928. 
Plan  for  such  a  department  in  a  college. 


496 


Current  Periodicals 


NATIONAL   BUREAU  OF  ECONOMIC    RESEARCH 

National  Bureau  of  Economic  Research. 
Xational  Bureau  of  Economic  Research 
and  its  work.  International  Labour  Re- 
view, Vol.  16,  p.  835-840.  December, 
1927. 

Historical  survey  covering  the  constitu- 
tion, finance  and  work  of  the  Bureau. 

PRODUCTION 

Van  Deventer,  John  H.  (Consulting 
Editor,  Factory  and  Industrial  Manage- 
ment) Industrial  executive's  approach 
to  profitable  production.  Factory  and 
Industrial  Management,  Vol.  75,  p.  54 
(insert  opposite)  January,  1928. 

A  chart  offering  suggestions  as  to  how 
to  quicken  turnover,  cut  unit  production 
cost,  increase  product's  appeal  and  reduce 
overhead  expense. 

PRODUCTIVITY — LABOR 

Efficiency  of  labor  in  textile  industry  gains. 
Economic  Review  of  the  Soviet  Union, 
Vol.  2,  p.  14.    November  15,  1927. 

The  output  per  worker  in  the  whole 
textile  industry  increased  during  the  past 
eight  months  11  per  cent.  Average 
wages  increased  8|  per  cent. 

PSYCHOLOGY 

BuRTT,  H.  E.  (Ohio  State  University) 
and  H.  C.  Beck.  Remembering  names 
connected  with  faces.  Industrial  Psychol- 
ogy, Vol.  3,  p.  34-38.     January,  1928. 

Why  we  forget  names  and  how  we  may 
remember  better  is  shown  by  some  late 
experiments. 

RESEARCH 

Charlton,  M.  (M.  P.  Leader  of  the  Oppo- 
sition, Commonwealth  Parliament, 
[Australia])  Science  and  labour.  Jour- 
nal of  the  Council  for  Scientific  and  In- 
dustrial Research,  Vol.  1,  p.  8-10.  Aug- 
ust, 1927. 

General  article  on  the  attitude  of  labor 
to  research. 

Battelle  Memorial  Institute  for  Industrial 
Research.  Iron  Age.  Vol.  121,  p.  212. 
January  19,  1928. 

Cook,  Walter  W.     (LL.M.;  Professor  of 


Law,  Yale  University;  Visiting  Professor 
of  Jurisprudence,  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versitj')  Scientific  method  and  the  law. 
Johns  Hopkins  Alumni  Magazine,  Vol. 
15,  p.  213-236.     March,  1927. 

Commencement  day  address. 
Research    turns    loss    into    profits.     Manu- 
facturing   Industries,     Vol.     15,     p.    72. 
January,  1928. 

Experience  of  a  New    England    com- 
pany. 


Consolidated  Gas,  Electric  Light  and  Power 
Company  of  Baltimore.  Safe  drivers 
certificate  and  card  case.  National  Safety 
News,  Vol.  17,  p.  28.    February,  1928. 

SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

Bata,  Thom:\s.  Bata  [works].  Bulletin  of 
the  International  Management  Institute, 
Vol.  1,  p.  7-8.     December,  1927. 

Lists  references  on  the  work  of  this 
well  known  shoe  factory  in  Zlin, 
Czechoslovakia  which  has  been  so  suc- 
cessful in  installing  American  manage- 
ment methods. 
Clark,  Wallace.  (Consulting  Manage- 
ment Engineer,  New  York)  Scientific 
management  international  government. 
Bulletin  of  the  International  Committee 
of  Scientific  Management,  Vol.  2,  p. 
9-10.     September,  1927. 

The  application  of  scientific  manage- 
ment is  indicative  of  a  new  attitude  of 
governments  toward  their  responsibilities 
and  promises  a  new  era  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  government  affairs. 
International  Permanent  Delegations  of 
the  Scientific  Management  Congress. 
World  movement  of  scientific  organization. 
Bulletin  of  the  International  Permanent 
Delegation  of  the  Scientific  Management 
Congress,  Vol.  1,  p.  16-27.  June,  1926. 
Kendall,  Henry  P.  (Treasurer,  Kendall 
Mills  Inc.,  Boston)  Scientific  manage- 
ment in  a  textile  business.  Bulletin  of 
the  Taylor  Society,  Vol.  12,  p.  519-52. 
December,  1927. 

Operating  a  number  of  plants  in  differ- 
ent localities  which  are  managed  as  a 
horizontally  and  vertically  integrated 
group  carrying  the  materials  from  the 


Current  Periodicals 


497 


cotton  bale  to  the  ultimate  consumer,  and 
which  involve  both  continuous  and  inter- 
mittent processing.  A  section  on  indus- 
trial relations  is  included. 

Kimball,  Dexter  S.  (Dean  of  the  College 
of  Engineering,  Cornell  University, 
Ithaca;  Past  president  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers)  Can 
we  make  a  science  of  managementf  Fac- 
tory and  Industrial  Management,  Vol. 
75,  p.  69-71.    January,  1928. 

General  article  on  the  scientific  man- 
agement movement. 

Segur,  a.  B.  (Consulting  Industrial  Engi- 
neer, Chicago,  Member  S.  I.  E.)  Skilled 
workers  and  motion  study,  your  assets. 
Society  of  Industrial  Engineers  Bulletin, 
Vol.  9,  p.  11-14,  18.    December,  1927. 

Traces  the  study  of  a  worker  in  a  firm 
making  electrical  supplies,  showing  how 
motion  study  can  uncover  unusual  abili- 
ties. 

SELECTION   OF   EMPLOYEES 

Payne,  Arthur  Frank.  Selecting  junior 
workers  in  Germany.  Industrial  Psy- 
chology, Vol.  3,  p.  17-20.  January,  1928. 
Blind  entry  into  an  occupation  for 
which  one  tests  high  can  apparently  be 
prevented. 

Selecting  and  disciplining  employees.  Rail- 
way Age,  Motor  Transport  Section,  Vol. 
84,  p.  278-280.     January  28,  1928. 

What  railways  require  in  hiring  motor 
coach  drivers  and  mechanics  and  how 
efficient  work  is  obtained. 

TRAINING 

Gaum,  Carl  G.  (Professor  of  Engineering 
Extension,  Pennsylvania  State  College) 
Pennsylvania  Slate  College  is  training 
workers  on  the  job.  Labor  and  Industry, 
Vol.  14,  p.  3-10.     December,  1927. 

Activities  of  the  course  described  under 
the  following  captions :  Industrial  courses 
a  specialty;  Courses  inexpensive;  Exten- 
sion activities  listed;  Foreman  training 
especially  popular;  Methods  of  training 
foremen;  Foreman  training  conferences; 
Special  courses  developed;  Public  utilities 
adopt  Penn  State  course;  Radio  a  recent 


addition  to  courses;  Foundry  men's 
courses;  Evening  classes  offer  three  year 
course;  Department  issues  news  sheets; 
Survey  and  general  education  service; 
Aim  of  the  college. 

training — APPRENTICES 

Carey,  R.  F.     (M.E.;  Educational  Depart- 
ment, Textile  Machine  Works)    Why  it 
pays  to  train  apprentices.    Trained  Men, 
Vol.  8,  p.  20.     January-February,    1928. 
Policy  of  nine  companies  discussed. 

TRAINING SALESMEN 

Lebow,  Victor  (Advertising  manager, 
A.  A.  Vantine  and  Co.,  Inc.)  Lone 
pupil  method  of  training  salesmen.  Print- 
er's Ink,  Vol.  142,  p.  49-52.  January  5, 
1928. 

This  company  found  that  a  crowded 
roomful  of  new  salesmen  made  resultful 
training  quite  impossible. 

UNION — MANAGEMENT  COOPERATION 

Beyer,  Otto  S.,  Jr.  (Consulting  engineer) 
Labor's  contribution  to  the  scientific  organi- 
zation of  industry.  American  Federa- 
tionist.  Vol.  35,  p.  32-35.  January,  1928. 
Paper  presented  at  the  International 
Management  Congress  at  Rome,  Sep- 
tember, 1927. 

UNITED  STATES — LABOR  STATISTICS  BUREAU 

United  States  Labor  Statistics  Bureau. 
Work  of  the  United  Slates  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics.  Monthly  Labor  Review,  Vol. 
25,  p.  1185-1214.    December,  1927. 

The  purpose  of  this  article  is  not  only 
to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  Bureau's 
activities  but  also  to  indicate  the  methods 
employed  in  securing,  handling  and  pub- 
lishing information,  the  activities  now 
under  way,  and  certain  lines  of  study 
which  the  Bureau  should  be  carrj-ing  on 
but  is  unable  to  undertake  because  of 
lack  of  resources. 

WAGES — PAYMENT  METHODS 

Gates,  A.  B.  (Assistant  Manager  of  In- 
dustrial Relations,  Commonwealth  Edi- 
son    Company)    Salary     administration 


498 


Current  Periodicals 


in  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company. 
Management  Review,  Vol.  17,  p.  39-46. 
February,  1928. 

Plan  is  based  on  the  following  items: 
Job  analysis;  Job  descriptions;  Job  grad- 
ing and  classification;  Salary  and  Wage 
Schedules;  and  on  these  items  as  a  base; 
Salary  and  Wage  Control  Procedure  in- 
cluding budgeting  of  requirements  and 
centralized  supervision. 
Sample,  William  (Vice-President,  Rals- 
ton  Purina  Company)    "We  have  tried 


nearly  every  method  of  paying  salesmen." 
Printer's  Ink,  Vol.  142,  p.  25-28.  Jan- 
uary 5,  1928. 

As  a  result  of  these  experiments  the 
Ralston  Purina  Company  has  settled  on 
the  point  system. 
TuTTLE,  W.  R.  (Works  Manager,  Edison 
Electric  Appliance  Company,  Inc., 
Chicago)  Group  incentives.  Factory 
and  Industrial  Management,  Vol.  75, 
p. 72-75.    January, 1928. 

A  study  in  compensation  policies. 


HF 
55^9 
A2P5 
V.6 


Personnel  journal 


PLEASE  DO  NOT  REMOVE 
SLIPS  FROM  THIS  POCKET 


UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 
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